Catch me if you can
by Jebe
Summary: Ranma decides to turn the tables on Shampoo's threat of the kiss of death. *Rating upgraded to M due to mature themes.*
1. Chapter 1

[-]

Ranma glared as he looked down. He was going to need to find some other clothing. The white gi he was currently wearing was doing a horrible job of covering a pair of additions that he could easily do without. Oh sure, the benevolent Guide had made a show of turning them back with hot water. He was still stunned how that hadn't lasted, at all.

Somehow cold water had managed to find him mere minutes afterwards, when he'd just happened to walk by the instant that the Guide's daughter had just so happened to open a can of soda, which she'd just so happened to have shaken up enough. He was still sticky. His father had just so happened to get nailed by the Guide, who'd just so happened to be having difficulty taking the bottle top off at that instant and sprayed him in the face. If he didn't know better he'd swear they were cursed, but that was stupid.

By the time he'd finished chasing his old man around and thumped him for his abject stupidity in coming to a place like this, the sun had already passed its zenith and his stomach was growling. The Guide had mentioned something about a fighting competition occurring at a nearby village, which of course would have food. What public event didn't have food?

As the village came into view he noticed that there was a large log suspended between four massive posts that had been buried into the ground. The log was small enough to test a person's balance, and limit grappling options. Clearly the easiest path to victory was to simply knock the other person off the log. He saw roughly 35 different ways this could be exploited to allow someone to win who'd utterly lose in a straight up fight.

"This customers is annual women's fighting competition. Women come and fight from all nearby villages." The Guide declared in stilted Japanese.

"That's a woman?" He asked pointing at what looked like a burly man with a long spiked staff. His stomach growled insistently reminding him that his stomach was quite empty, just in time for the scent of delicious food to enter his nostrils.

And what a collection of food it was. Several tables worth all prepared and lined up. He went through the checklist. Nothing obviously wrong with the food? Check. No one obviously laying claim to it? Check. No one guarding it? Check. He went ahead and dug in grabbing an oh so delicious meat bun.

He observed that the two current participants were exploiting option number 24. So much for being a fair test of skill. The log provided a small platform that allowed very limited options on what was safe to land on, and how footing could be used to recover. So any kind of weapon that delivered heavy blows, would have disproportionate effectiveness here versus anywhere else. He could only assume the not-man was trying to end things quickly. Otherwise the not-man had just made a massive tactical error by attempting a jump attack, and yeah the not man got batted aside. The problem with a jump attack in a situation like that is you had nothing to leverage off of, and you had to find some way to insure you stuck your landing.

"Customers, what you doing?"

He jumped as the woman who'd been fighting moments prior sailed down and smashed one of her giant balls on a stick through the table, destroying or ruining what had moments prior been a marvelous spread.

"What's your problem?!" He demanded. He'd only had the chance to eat two meat buns. Did she have something against food?

The woman pointed one of her ball on a stick things at him and quickly spoke in what he recognized as Chinese, given he'd spent the last month hearing people speak it. Having never studied Chinese he didn't understand a single word she was saying. He was really curious how this enemy of food everywhere was trying to justify herself.

"She say, why you steal my prize." The Guide helpfully summarized.

"It was a prize? For what?" There had been a wealth of food of delicious food, which had now been ground into the dirt.

"Is 1st prize for fighting competition." The Guide stated, pointing at a sign that he couldn't make heads or tails of. He decided to take the Guide's word for it.

Ranma glanced down as he remembered this was a woman's fighting competition. Yeah they were still there. "Tell her she hasn't won first prize yet, because there's another contestant." He said while walking up to her and staring her down. She stared back defiant and full of herself. He was going to wipe that smug look off her face, and make her pay for ruining that delicious food.

"Customer me no think this is good idea. Women warriors..."

"Tell her." He insisted, walking past the Chinese woman towards the log. He was pretty sure she'd get his meaning as he hopped on the log, and was happy to find she'd taken the hint and hoped onto the other side. She was smug, no doubt in part due to the blatant instruments of cheating she was wielding, which was really starting to piss him off. He was going to show this poser how a real martial artist fights.

The purple haired Chinese woman slowly and deliberately stalked towards him, sure in her unfair advantage and chances for victory. He spared himself a second to roll his eyes, before breaking into a sprint pulling back a fist. He paced his steps just off enough, and made sure his cocked fist was just sloppy enough.

The Chinese woman took the bait, and dedicated herself to a well executed heavy swing. It would have knocked him completed off the log, if he'd not jumped. He'd debated 12 different options on how to take her down, and ultimately decided the most humiliating would be to actually successfully execute an aerial attack. Ranma rotated his body, bringing the full force of his body behind a kick that slammed into the side of the woman's head sending her flying off the log.

He adjusted the angle of his kick as contact began to break launching himself at one of the suspension poles, before bouncing off and landing on the log. Ranma looked around seeing most of the audience was gawking at him. Where was his applause? The Chinese woman looked like she was out cold. Something that looked like a giant dried up frog pogoed on a walking stick towards her.

Ranma decided to walk over and help her. Just because she'd destroyed food, and he'd publicly humiliated her didn't mean he needed to be a jerk about it. From what the kick had felt like he'd done things right, and she should be fine.

"Is she okay?" He asked the frog thing, not that he expected an answer.

"Surprisingly, yes." The frog creature responded back in accented, but understandable Japanese. Her tone made her disapproval clear. Shape shifting water activated curses, and talking frogs all in one day. This was a novel start to the week.

"That means I won 1st place, right?" He asked.

The frog creature nodded, which was a rather amazing feat for a creature with no neck. "And now it's your prize that's ruined."

"She should be fine in a few hours." Ranma pointed out in response to the frog creature's apparent admonishment of his actions. What was its problem?

The purple haired Chinese woman stirred, showing she had a superior constitution to most. He decided to wait around. He wanted to have a word with her about how she'd carelessly destroyed what was now officially his food. All of that perfectly prepared delicious food that had now been crushed into the dirt. His stomach grumbled in protest to its current state, and the evil that had been committed by the food hater.

After blinking a few times the woman's eyes cleared, and locked onto him with a glare. He coolly met her gaze and stared back. Like he was going to back down from her after all the crap she'd pulled. The woman staggered unsteadily to her feet and approached him. In her current condition she was in no shape to fight.

Closing the distance, she grabbed on to him unsteadily. He let her hang on to him, while staring at her defiantly. He was keeping a close eye on what she was doing when she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. He blinked as he felt his heart start to race, and an odd tingly sensation. Wha?

"You've done it now, she's given you the Kiss of Death." Frog thing declared.

"That's funny, I don't seem to be dead." Ranma noted. Mimicking the woman's movements he kissed the Chinese woman on the cheek. She looked utterly scandalized. "She doesn't seem to be dead either."

The frog thing, and the rest of the women there just stared at him. What? She'd kissed him first. The Chinese woman muttered something in Chinese, which based on her tone he suspected was a promise of violence. It was almost endearing given she was currently leaning on him for support.

"The kiss of death means she's going to hunt you down, and kill you."

Ranma looked at the frog creature skeptically, and then glanced at the Chinese woman. "So she has to chase me down now right?"

"She'll hunt you to the ends of the earth." Frog thing declared proudly, clearly intended as some kind of threat.

Ranma smirked, and quickly sneaking in kissed the Chinese woman on the lips. "Catch me if you can." He declared confidently before extricating himself.

[-]

His father looked at him with what he assumed was disapproval. Given pandas didn't talk, he was having to rely on guesswork here.

"What's your problem, Old Man?"

The panda made a combination of growly noises, and pointed in the direction they'd come from.

"Of course she's going to come after us." He said guessing at his father's meaning.

The panda growled in what he assumed was disapproval. "What's your problem pops? It's going to be fun. Don't you remember how boring last week was? It's not like that amazon woman could beat me." He declared confidently with his thumb out bringing it up to point at his chest, and resisted the urge to curled up in a ball. Why did these stupid female parts have to be so sensitive?

He decided to just ignore the panda's growls in response. It wasn't like he could understand what the old man was actually saying anyways. He felt an odd twinge as the Chinese woman fluttered into his mind. She had no idea what she was getting into.

[-]

Shampoo glared at the fire. She was still feeling woozy, but she wasn't going to let that crazy outsider girl get away with what she'd done. She'd been humiliated, and...

She tensed as she noticed a pebble fly past her. Whirling around she noticed the outsider girl sitting on one of the low branches of a nearby tree behind her. The girl stuck her tongue out, before bounding off into the forest stating something in that weird language of hers that seemed oddly familiar.

She saw the outsider girl standing there looking like she was waiting for her, and rushed in. She was going to teach that outsider girl a few things. The girl may have gotten lucky, but... Shampoo cursed as she felt her foot catch on a string. She reacted a moment too late to avoid being pulled up off her feet.

The outsider girl smiled broadly while casually moving closer, but being careful to stay out of reach. Shampoo struggled to try to swing herself or something to get at her, but had to stop after a few minutes as the dizziness caught up to her. Curse her.

The outsider girl giggled at her predicament, before disappearing back into the forest. Shampoo cursed the girl, her parentage, and most especially her upbringing.

[-]

Ranma smirked. He'd managed to get up early enough to get the drop on the Chinese woman. He had a horribly evil idea that he'd brought along some light rope to execute. He was going to tie her sleeping bag around her. He wanted to see how she'd get out of that one.

As he approached her, he noticed that something seemed off. It was almost like she'd anticipated he'd come back and... He dove and rolled to the side only to get kicked in the side for his trouble. Ranma cursed under his breath as he used his arms to spring back. She'd setup a decoy.

Ranma grinned, this was what he was talking about. He dodged and deflected her attacks as she laid into him. Then she kept cranking up the pace with her hand strikes to the point he had to keep hopping back to give himself enough room. This woman was good, but...

He paused his retreat just enough for her to close the distance, and abruptly dropped to his knees, sweeping the Chinese woman's legs out from under her. He was feeling rather smug with himself when the ground under him exploded.

He grimaced as started to drag himself away from where the explosion had thrown him. That had stung. He could feel dozens of hot bleeding cuts, but other than feeling off balance nothing else seemed to be out of order as he dragged himself to his feet. He was too slow to avoid the Chinese woman's blow to his gut, but managed to turn enough to not take the brunt of it and use the opportunity to give some extra power to a blow to the Chinese woman's jaw.

He just sat there propping himself up for a moment. The Chinese woman seemed to be down for the moment. He left himself lie down for a moment despite the Chinese woman laying on top of him. He was still feeling kind of woozy from that explosion.

That'd been a close fight. Apparently this woman warrior had more things up her sleeve than he'd first assumed. This was going to be a lot more fun than he'd expected.

[-]

Ranma noted his father was now human as he returned to their camp. Rummaging around in his pack he located his bottle of isopropyl alcohol and some bandages, and proceeded to go to work cleaning and bandaging himself up.

"Hey old man, you have any hot water left?"

"Heat it up yourself, boy." Genma dismissively declared in response. Big help he was. Like it was that big of a deal to heat up enough water for two people instead of just himself.

"Not going to chew me out about getting some practice in, Old Man?" Ranma asked, intentionally poking at the Old Man, ready to throw back his long standing tenant that everything was training if he decided to try to make an issue out of it.

Genma glared at him in annoyance. Ranma grinned.

[-]

Shampoo woke up to find herself tucked into her sleeping bag. As she got up she noticed her chin was bandaged with some kind of salve. Looking over she noticed that her little campfire was still going with relatively fresh wood, and there appeared to be a prepared meal there waiting for her, and being kept warm by the fire.

The outsider girl was getting soft. Still... she was hungry. Shampoo pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, and walked towards her little campfire, only to feel her foot hit a piece of taught string. She cursed as once again a rope ripped her off her feel pulling her into the air. She would make that outsider girl pay.

[-]

Ranma was rather happy with himself, attired as he now was in a nice set of silk Chinese clothing and returned to his proper form. A local tea shop had happily provided the hot water he needed to return to his original shape. A woman had just happened to be dumping a bucket full of water out of a second story floor when had been under it on his way here, but he'd dodged it. So much for this "curse." As if cold water could somehow just find him. He was looking forward to a long period of being able to once more enjoy being himself. He had this stupid water curse beat!

Ranma sputtered, and looked over to see an old woman that appeared to be cleaning the street with a ladle and bucket of water, who'd just so happened to throw water in his direction at just the right moment to hit. He buried his face in his hands. No, no that was stupid. He just needed to get some more hot water, and make a point to be more aware of his surroundings. There was no evil malevolent force out there that could be conspiring for him to get nailed with water.

He mindlessly rubbed around his nipple and was pleasantly surprised to find that unlike the gi these silk clothes didn't seem to chaff or irritate the soft womanly bits. A part of his mind put forward the idea that a bra would protect against that. That part was summarily put down and buried. As if they sold that kind of thing out here in the middle of nowhere.

Time to go find some hot water.

[-]

Shampoo found the outsider girl standing outside a small building with a sign that advertized it as the place of business of a tailor. Noticing her the girl brightened and repeated that phrase again in her strange language before bounding off. Shampoo immediately gave chase.

The outsider girl ran along walls jumping along as she bound through the curving lanes. Shampoo pursued using a special technique to give her better purchase as she laid on the speed. She was going to catch this crazy outsider girl. The girl looked back, and noticed her closing the distance. Smirking the girl moved to a more congested area. Shampoo, sprinted she was going to close the distance, now.

She only grabbed air as the outsider girl bounced to the other wall. The outsider girl stuck out her tongue as she flew past. Shampoo grabbed a laundry line hanging between the lanes, using it to help swing herself around so she could pursue. The outside girl was just about to disappear around a corner as she finished reversing herself and returned to the pursuit. She took the turn she'd seen the outsider girl take but saw no sign of her.

She heard the outside girl repeat that phrase, and looked up to see that the outsider girl was on the roof of a building on the opposite side that she'd already passed. Noting that she'd been spotted the outsider girl disappeared beyond the edge of the roof. Shampoo bounced off the wall to the roof of a building across from her and spotted the outsider girl bounding along through the chaos of the sea of squat structures.

Shampoo opened up her strides piling on speed to close the distance. The outsider girl with her smaller stature and smaller legs had just made a fatal mistake. There was no way that she was going to be able to stop her from catching up to her now. Shampoo lost sight of the outsider girl for a second as she dropped below the weird shape of one of the buildings. Shampoo piled on the speed. She needed to close the distance.

Shampoo kept bounding along, but she no longer saw outsider girl bounding along in front of her. Something seemed off. Shampoo glanced back as a familiar voice called out. She slammed her fist through a chimney, as she noticed the outsider girl standing a few hundred meters behind her. The outsider girl waved. Upon recognizing that she'd succeeded in getting her attention the outsider girl stuck out her tongue again and bounded off along the roof tops in another direction.

Shampoo redoubled her efforts as she tore off after her. The outsider girl was quickly running out of places to run to, it was only a matter of time now. Shampoo's confidence started to build and she pushed herself harder as the distance between them started to very noticeably shrink. Seeming to realize her predicament the outsider girl skidded to a stop, and took a stance on the edge of one of the buildings breathing heavily.

Shampoo smirked translating her momentum into a flying kick that would send to girl flying off the building, and riding her kick to the street below. This was over!

The outsider girl straightened up and turned to the side a split second before her kick would have impacted, but too long after she'd committed for her to adjust her course enough to matter. Shampoo noted the girl actually appeared to be breathing just fine, and had a big smile on her face, as she started to sail past. The girl made the mistake of waving, and Shampoo desperately reached out and grabbed the outsider girl's arm, pulling her off the roof with her. If she was going down, this outsider girl was going to go down with her.

She tried to spin around and fling the outsider girl down ahead of her, but the outsider girl turned within her turn. For a brief instant they were face to face. The outsider girl regarding her with that determined grin, and then with a kick they were flying away from each other. Sparing some attention towards what she was rushing towards she noticed it was the town lake moments before she made impact with a large splash.

[-]

Ranma struggled back up to the surface of the freezing cold lake, and noted the Chinese girl's head pop up moments afterwards. That had been awesome! He hadn't had fun like that in... Nah the lunch line had nothing on that. Noting that the Chinese woman had spotted him and was starting to swim towards him, he started swimming towards the shore. This woman was really, really strong.

Reaching the shore he bounded between the trees to a spot he'd selected in advance. Sparing a glance back he dodged out of the way as Shampoo dove in with a strike. She struck the ground, which exploded like last time. This time he was far enough away from the explosion it didn't really do anything. He noted that whatever she was doing it appeared that it required contact with what she was trying to make explode, and it didn't really appear to take anything out of her to do it. He was going to need to keep and eye on that.

He'd selected this grove in this relatively dense group of trees as it gave him a lot of options for bouncing around while not being constraining in a way that'd cause him to get easily pinned. Bouncing off a nearby tree to quickly redirect from his dodge, he launched himself towards the Chinese girl. She was still getting her bearings back when his kick slammed into her shoulder causing it to pop. He managed his landing into her shoulder correctly and was able to bounce off of her. As he flipped himself around and landed on a tree he saw her grimace while popping her shoulder back in.

She'd still be able to use the arm, but that should slow her hand strikes just enough that it'd be good training instead of something that threatened to overwhelm him. Bouncing down he settled into a stance and waited for her to attack. The Chinese woman regarded him, and seemed to be trying to be demand answers to what sounded like questions. Due to barely understanding any Chinese, he didn't understand a word she was saying.

He made a come hither gesture in her direction. The Chinese woman regarded him cautiously, and she slowly stalked towards him. Rather than the quick hand strikes from yesterday, she started using strong, purposeful, and well controlled strikes. He deflected and dodged the blows, knowing full well that he didn't want to let the women securely land one of those strikes. He landed a few light strikes when an opening presented itself.

At this point he wasn't really concerned with winning. He wanted to get some training in today, and a comatose opponent didn't make a good training partner. Playing the defensive game also gave his opponent less openings as he wasn't creating any more openings than he absolutely had to.

Ranma dodged under a strong overhead kick, bringing his arms up to deflect the Chinese woman's attempts to turn it into a telling blow. He sprung up at just the right moment, redirecting his motion into a push that threw the woman off her feet. He waited for the woman to get back up, but she just laid there on her back catching her breath and studying him cautiously.

Ranma looked at her, the woman's usual bravado and determination had been replaced with exhaustion and exasperation. Thinking back, she had been doing a lot more running then he had and even he was starting to feel fatigue start to catch up to him. He scratched at his cheek as he debated what to do. He'd kind of thought they'd get to fight more before something like this was going to happen.

[-]


	2. Chapter 2

[-]

Ranma lifted the Chinese girl up, and slipped her arm around his shoulder as he leveraged himself up. He glanced over in her direction to find her regarding him incredulously. It didn't look like she was going to try to pull something.

"Don't get the wrong idea." He said as he adjusted his grip to make sure it would be solid. He knew she wasn't going to be able to actually understand what he was saying, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to talk anyway.

The Chinese woman made some comment as they started walking. He looked at her warily as he felt her tighten her grip, but it was just to have a more secure grip. He spent a second trying to parse out what her intent was, but gave up after a few minutes.

[-]

Ranma could see the massive collection of disorganized buildings that made up this city hover into view as it ceased to be obscured by the bamboo stalks and trees. In a few more minutes they were within the bounds of the city. Ranma blinked as he actually recognized something the Chinese woman said from the very limited vocabulary that he'd picked up. She'd just told him thank you in clear and proper Chinese. Not that he'd heard that too often. He had a very good grasp of what the equivalent of "fuck you" was in Chinese though.

"You're welcome." He acknowledged in what he recognized was bad and stilted Chinese. The Chinese woman recognizing this looked at him like she was reassessing him. "It's not like I can understand what you're saying."

The Chinese woman held out her hand. Guessing what she wanted Ranma pulled out the Japanese-to-Chinese dictionary he'd bought for this trip. She grabbed it from his hand and freeing herself from leaning on him, flipped through it while muttering something under her breath. She sounded out some words, declared something that sounded different loudly in Chinese that he didn't recognize.

Seeing his puzzlement the girl helpfully navigated through to Japanese to Chinese dictionary. "Catch... me..." He had an idea what she was on about. "Catch me if you can?" He asked.

The Chinese woman repeated the phrase she had said loudly before. He tried to repeat what she'd said, but knew he wasn't anywhere close. The Chinese woman however was happy to patiently sound it out and verify each step, and in a few minutes he was saying what he could only assume was "Catch me if you can." in Chinese that wasn't completely horrible.

Glancing through the book more the Chinese woman declared. "Me Shampoo." In bad stilted Japanese. He had a sneaking suspicion that her name wasn't a hair product, but just happened to sound like one to his ears.

"My name is Ranma." Ranma responded back as he followed the formula the book had given him, which based on his exposure to native Chinese speakers he knew was bad Chinese. To them it probably sounded something very close to "Me Ranma."

Shampoo as the purple haired Chinese woman was apparently called, giggled happily. If he didn't know better he'd think she wanted to be friends with him. "Want to eat?" He asked in Japanese, trying to shape his left hand so it looked like a bowl and using his right to make a scooping motion and bring his hand up to his face. He hoped that conveyed the concept of eating, you never knew what someone was going to interpret something as.

Shampoo nodded and started walking along, glancing in his direction as she did so with the clear expectation of him following.

[-]

Ranma wasn't sure how he'd describe what they'd done on their way to restaurant. You couldn't really call it a conversation, not when every few minutes either he was coaching her on her Japanese, or she was coaching him on his Chinese. Also neither of them really knew enough words in the others language to express anything beyond the simplest concepts with words. It however had been fun.

As they approached the bar Shampoo called out something to the cook that he didn't quite understand, but from what he did appeared to be an order. Shortly after they were seated the cook put a bowl of food in front of each of them, smiling and chatting up Shampoo. Ranma looked at her in puzzlement.

Noticing his attention Shampoo said "Food good." in broken Japanese that was getting a lot better. She was a quick learner, a fact that was kind of putting him on edge. The woman kept demonstrating she was a lot more capable than he'd first assumed.

"Die tomorrow?" He asked in broken Chinese.

Shampoo nodded happily. She pointed at herself, said a Japanese word for kill, pointed at him, and said a Japanese word for tomorrow while looking at him with clear determination. He was pretty sure something was getting lost in translation here, but that meant the games were still on. Ranma grinned as he contemplated his options.

He said her name, pointed down, and said a Chinese word for tomorrow that probably wasn't the right one for this situation while looking back at her in determination. Shampoo's lip curled in response, and she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek like before. Like before he kissed her on the cheek in response mirroring her movements. Something felt different than last time, and his heart seemed more determined to thump in chest in response to all this. Ranma shoved those thoughts off to the side, there was food in front of him, and preparations for evil plans tat needed to be made.

[-]

Shampoo woke up to find a very obvious pair of counterweight traps hanging on either side of her with trigger wires running along either side of the bed she'd rented for the night. Looking at the floor while well hidden she noticed enough hints to spot the snares that had been laid out to grab her legs. She had to smirk. What did that outsider girl think she was doing laying such an obvious trap?

Pulling out her knife Shampoo cut the string along the right side of her bed. She smirked as she watched the trap begin to spring without her anywhere near it. Maybe the outsider girl was...

Something heavy slammed into her back, tossing her into the snare where it tightened around her chest, pulling her off the bed and somehow managing to allow her to slide while it tightened down. All leading to her once more hanging upside down with a rope around her ankles. Shampoo had to give the outsider girl credit, she'd not seen that coming.

Almost as if on cue Ranma appeared from under her bed, the redhead looking around sleepily, before noticing her hanging there. The redhead pumped her fist, before going back under the bed and grabbing a small bed roll.

"Thank you, yesterday." The girl declared in broken Chinese with a slight bow. Ranma happily stuck her tongue out, and climbed out the window.

Shampoo just had to stare as she dangled from the rafters. She wasn't even angry anymore. She was going to teach that stupid girl a lesson though.

[-]

Ranma was rather happy with himself the day was off to a good start. His father was off doing something he hadn't bothered divulging the details of, and thus wasn't going to put a damper on his fun. He'd gotten a good nights sleep in, and he had a fight to look forward to today. Oh, and the food was good here too.

Ranma had asked about the noodle dish that Shampoo had order yesterday evening, and had ordered the same thing, at the same place this morning. He'd already gotten a workout in before breaking his fast, and he was going to have a fight today! And against someone who knew what they were doing. He was so giddy he could squee.

Wait, bad thought. No squeeing. On the other hand he had boobies right now, and as far as everyone here was concerned he was a girl anyway. Nevermind. Commence with the squee.

"Ranma, happy." A familiar voice commented.

"Fight today." He responded happily in broken Chinese while pumping his fist.

[-]

Ranma bounded along making a b-line for where he'd planned the fight yesterday, Shampoo in hot pursuit. He didn't bother with the blinds, and tricks today. He was going to have a fight, and it was going to be awesome!

[-]

Ranma waited to see what Shampoo was going to open up with. He grinned as she started in with the rapid hand strikes. He hopped along giving him just enough space prevent him from getting overwhelmed by her speed. This was awesome! If he kept doing this he'd be able to get his hand strike speed up even further, and maybe even to this woman's level.

He'd... His thought was interrupted as Shampoo successfully grabbed his arms and shoved. He tried to throw her, but she forced him down, pushing him down the where he was lying with his back against the ground, and his arms forced apart.

What? How? She was a woman. How had she? Ranma felt a cold shiver run down his spine as Shampoo sat down on his stomach, and started to move her legs to where they'd be able to hold down his arms. Why couldn't he just push her off? He was... Suddenly it hit him, he wasn't a guy right now and this woman was stronger than this female body was.

Shampoo firmly planted her feet on his arms. Confident that she had him pinned, she brushed a hand along his cheek. The woman looked at him with clear regret as she reached for a knife sheathed on her belt. Ranma kicked up his legs, and did a very abrupt and powerful scissor kick while rolling hard at the right instant. He succeeded in dislodging Shampoo, and giving himself enough space to roll away and get back on his feet.

Ranma aimed a kick to knock the knife out of Shampoo's hand, and started to lay into her. She hadn't recovered yet from when he'd broken the pin, and wasn't able to put up a proper defense. Recognizing this he stopped fist cocked back that would have struck Shampoo's face as she looked back at him tearing up. As the adrenaline broke he felt hot tracks starting to run down his face. He was so furious he didn't care.

He hated himself for being an idiot, and he hated her for betraying him. His chest hurt in a way he wasn't familiar with. He ran off into the trees not caring what direction his feet took him.

[-]

Ranma brooded as he perched on the roof of the highest building in this city, thankfully after having found some hot water. Physically he was fine, and he had no doubt that if he fought her again as a man that he would be the one who would be able to simply overpower her. Shampoo was going to do what she was going to do. He'd been stupid. He'd not taken the fight seriously. If he'd not slipped up like that she wouldn't have been able to do that.

He shivered as he once again recalled that feeling of simply being overpowered and forced to the ground. The feeling of being pinned with limited bad options for escape. He hugged himself. At least the old man wasn't here. He didn't feel like he could put up with him right now. He didn't need someone berating him for being a weak little girl right now.

[-]

Ranma adjusted the disguise, he'd located some cold water and made a trip to one of the clothing shops. He was not going to let some crazy amazon woman intimidate him. He might be physically weaker like this, but he wasn't going to let her intimidate him. There was a lingering pain in his chest that didn't seem to want to go away.

His red hair was tucked away in a wide brimmed hat instead of hanging free in its usual ponytail, his eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses, and he'd found a nice coat. She'd never suspect it was him. It took him about half an hour to locate Shampoo. When he found her she was at the restaurant sitting where she had last night, staring at the bar. He sat down next to her. The pain in his chest eased slightly for some reason. He felt an urge to hug her.

As he started to speak, he realized there was a fatal flaw in his plan. He could barely speak Chinese. He was debating improvising with a Kensai accent when Shampoo reached out and touched his hand. He felt his heart flutter, and his face burn as he realized she'd seen right through him, despite his perfect disguise.

Shampoo started talking, but she was talking too fast and using too many words he didn't understand to parse out what she was saying. Based on her tone he was pretty sure she was trying to apologize. He kissed her on the cheek, and ran off calling back "Catch me if you can." in bad Chinese.

[-]

Shampoo found Ranma sunning herself like she was some kind of cat, splayed out on the roof of a building that was obscured enough it had taken her the better part of an hour to locate the little scamp. The redheaded girl looked up at her as she approached, and grinned. Shampoo slowed her place and started looking for traps, quickly spotted a few waiting to rip her off the roof. She carefully stepped around them, and sat down in a large spot next to the redhead that was suspiciously devoid of obvious traps.

Shampoo drew up her legs, and looked over Ranma who was looking in her direction but hadn't budged from her spot. After some thought she realized that she wasn't going to be able to convey what she'd wanted to say. Still, it wasn't so bad to spend some time like this.

[-]


	3. Chapter 3

[-]

Shampoo marched into Ranma's camp, neatly avoiding snares that she by now knew to be on the look out for. Grabbing the red headed girl, Shampoo dragged her bodily out of her sleeping bag, and held her by the shoulders. The little scamp had slung a bucket of water over a branch so it was perched over her head, and had tied the other end to her feet. Before she'd rightly known what was going on she'd been woken up by being drenched with cold river water. The redheaded little scamp just mischievously grinned at her, fully aware of what had happened, and enjoying her suffering. Shampoo growled, she was going to teach this little scamp a lesson.

Ranma quickly moved her arms up, forcing her own hands apart just enough as the redhead slipped free from her grasp. Ranma giggling quickly moved to just out of reach and stuck out her tongue. The redheaded scamp hopped back out of range as Shampoo swiped at her in an attempt to grab her. She knew that she could overpower the smaller girl if she could grab her, the problem was the girl knew that too.

Ranma bobbed to the side and grinned as she grabbed at space that the redhead no longer occupied.. Ranma taped her arm, and tried to move in behind her, but Shampoo took a step back and quickly swung her foot up, not giving the blow enough power to do any real damage but enough to warn Ranma off, and setup for a follow up punch. It was for naught as the girl just hopped back out of range. Shampoo paused and glanced down. As she'd suspected the little scamp was trying to draw her towards one of her snares.

Actually... Shampoo glanced around suspiciously, and found most of the snares she could spot weren't setup to nail someone who was entering the camp. Rather than forming circles around the camp most of the trigger wires she could spot formed spokes. Shampoo growled, the redhead had planned this and her obvious plan was to keep dodging just out of reach until. Then when she finally hit one the redhead would have her. That was Ranma's plan, but Shampoo saw no reason to not try to turn it around on her.

Grinning Shampoo, began choosing her strikes with an eye on the distance to the nearest snare, and how far Ranma would need to hop back to avoid a given strike. As she'd expected Ranma hopped over the first trigger wire they came across while making it look like he wasn't doing anything odd. Shampoo's grin broadened, she had her. Ranma might be able to keep track of things at the moment, but she had to do it while hopping backwards. All she needed to do was pick up the pace, and Ranma would eventually make a mistake. There was no way she could keep juggling keeping track of all of that while dealing with the kind of determined assault that the Kachu Tenshin Amigurken was the foundational technique for things like the always useful Xi Fang Go technique.

Increasing the speed of her assault, Ranma quickly started having to keep hopping back to keep from simply being overwhelmed. Still she managed to avoid the second and the third snare triggers. Spotting things were the distance she wanted, Shampoo tossed a stick she'd been hiding up her sleeve hitting the breaking point of a bit of ground near Ranma's feet just right so it'd explode. The redhead managed to avoid the worst of it, but still was thrown where she landed on one of her own snares, which tightened diagonally across her torso and ripped her off her feet so she was danging in the air.

Ranma struggled futilely with her own snare, as she dangled helplessly there. Shampoo grinned at her predicament. What had she done again? Oh right. She strided confidently past a man who was cowering off to the side as she snatched up a bucket, and made her way over to the river. Filling it up, she came back and splashed the redhead, leaving her dripping wet.

Satisfied with her revenge Shampoo yawned, as she stretched working out some kinks in her neck and shoulders. It was time for breakfast. She could deal with Ranma properly later.

[-]

Ranma made his way over to Shampoo's camp with skillet, a few eggs, and some rice they'd been cooking overnight in tow. He found the purple haired girl sitting next to her fire, looked like she was preparing something in a little pot. She regarded him suspiciously as he sat down next to her, placing the rice between them as he started frying the eggs.

While he considered himself decent, Shampoo knew a lot more than he did about making foraged food tasty instead of merely edible. It had taken a little convincing but he'd eventually gotten her to put up with a food sharing arrangement. He used his chop sticks to snatch back an egg that Shampoo had grabbed out of the skillet. Shampoo wasn't about to just let him have it and battled him for until they ended up tearing the egg in half. Shampoo smirked as she rapidly grabbed some rice and consumed her half of the egg with that speed technique of hers, before going after the half he still had.

[-]

Genma marched along with his pack noting that the purple haired girl was currently chasing Ranma in their intended direction of travel as the pair of them bounded between trees in forest that the trail he was following cut through. He'd made the mistake of getting between those two a week ago, and had nearly been blown to smithereens for his trouble. After that he'd just decided to give the two of them a wide berth.

Ranma raced past him down the trail in the opposite direction, with the purple haired girl not far behind providing him a nice breeze as they passed. It was actually kind of nice. The purple haired girl insured that his son didn't slack off in his training, and he had the time to enjoy the great outdoors. Ranma rushed back down the trail, the purple haired girl yelling some expletives while throwing rocks at his currently female son. And the best part was that, there was no way a violent maniac like that was going to get emotionally close to his son.

He was confident that he could lose this girl once they left China. The little mummy had said to the ends of the earth, and once they hit the ocean that'd be it to bad, so sad. The girl would just have to return to her tribe with her tail between her legs after failing to take down _his_ son while they victoriously swam the Sea of Japan. He spared himself a moment to chortle.

[-]

Ranma looked at himself in the full length mirror. The shopkeeper upon seeing the baggy clothed he'd come in, in had strongly encouraged towards the dress section. He'd finally caved in, and let her, have her way while making sure that the red and black silks he'd come in with weren't going to disappear. He was currently standing in front of a mirror looking at a completely unfamiliar person.

The woman in the mirror looked very nice in a green silk dress that hugged her curves, and showed a lot of leg. There was some patterns stitched into it, but his attention kept getting drawn away from that. Her stunning red hair had been brushed out, and a little make up had been applied. For some reason her blue eyes seemed to be popping out at him. He could only stare at this person that stared back at him out of the mirror. He knew that he was staring at his own reflection, but his mind refused to make the connection.

"You like?" The storekeeper had said more than that, but with the quality of his Chinese his understanding of what she'd said parsed down to that.

Ranma blinked at her unsure of what to say. With all the time he spent fighting Shampoo, he'd been spending a lot of time as a girl recently. He hadn't been thinking about it much, but this girl body cleaned up very nice.

"What Ranma doing?" Asked the by now familiar voice of Shampoo.

He stiffened, and turned slowly to face her. The purple haired girl gave him a once over, before walking over to look at some dresses. "Ranma looking for boyfriend?" She asked.

Ranma struggled with his limited grasp of the Chinese language, recognizing that Shampoo had an equally limited grasp of Japanese. "No. Lady dress me." He managed, using gestures to try to convey his meaning.

The shopkeeper smiling explained and started up a conversation with Shampoo. They chatted for a few minutes, talking too fast for him to make sense of what they were saying. He found his eye's being drawn to the mirror again, and he did a few poses.

"Ranma look like not notice pretty before." Shampoo commented from his shoulder.

Ranma felt his gut squirming, and heat rising in his cheeks as he turned to face her. He managed a nod.

"Ranma look very nice. Make some boy very happy."

Would she stop talking about boys? Yeesh. This was weird enough without having her keep bringing that up.

[-]

Shampoo had done herself up so at least in his opinion she looked better than his girl body did. They'd spent some time walking around the town and picking fights with boys. The picking fights with boys part he hadn't minded that much, a fight was a fight. That the pair of them were turning heads, he hadn't particularly cared for but most of the attention was directed towards Shampoo so it hadn't been that bad. Sure she'd brush some of the men off on to him, but given she'd already established that fighting was in the offing that'd really just boiled down to fighting.

She'd been friendly, but not paid him much mind as they'd made the rounds. Her head was one that being done up like this hadn't turned. They ultimately ended up sharing a booth in a restaurant over fried rice and several food items he wasn't quite sure what the proper name was, but so far smelled and tasted good, if a little weird.

"Ranma want strong man, too?"

Ranma blinked looking at her, as he dragged himself from his thoughts. He quickly shook his head. Why'd she have to keep bringing that up?

Thankfully she didn't seem intent on prying further. "Shampoo want big, strong, and handsome man to sweep her off her feet." Shampoo conveyed in Japanese while she happily looked off into space. He continued to eat as he watched her daydream. Clearly she had her heart set on that.

"What about woman that defeat Shampoo?" Ranma conveyed in Chinese, making a point to not emphasize who had defeated her while grinning mischievously.

Shampoo rolled her eyes. "Shampoo not pervert girl. Ranma tell bad joke."

Ah yeah. Ranma wasn't entirely sure why that statement hurt so much. Sure she'd basically just made her rejection of him clear, but... He held back the tears.

[-]

"Ranma want to hunt boys again with Shampoo?"

Ranma shook his head, and Shampoo walked away. He leaned his back against a wall. With her no longer scrutinizing him the hot tracks began trace their way down his cheeks.

[-]

Shampoo noticed that Ranma didn't seem to be as enthusiastic today. She wrapped her arm around the smaller girl, as she let her have some of her food. The girl was almost as strong as she was, and was good at being able to hit over her weight class by being quick and clever. Given how much of a problem she was having finding a strong man she could look up to, she could understand that the smaller girl was out of sorts after the pathetic showing of the local men last night. Even with the usual handicap of not using the village secret techniques, they'd been underwhelming.

"Ranma will find someone." She tried to comfort in the redhead's language. Ranma seemed to calm down a little in response to that. Shampoo smiled warmly, the smaller girl could be so vulnerable some times.

[-]

Ranma was pleasantly surprised to find that Shampoo had caught the same train. The real trick with doing this was all about not falling off. The top of the cars were kind of slippery when dry, and the wind would try to rip you off. Thankfully as long as you were careful you could spend most of the trip in the much less dangerous space between the cars, and if you were really slick passing yourself off as a passenger.

[-]

Shampoo noticed that Ranma's hands were getting faster. She smiled, knowing it was a result of their constant fighting. She'd also noticed Ranma was having a harder and harder time effectively using her traps.

It was fun. She'd come to enjoy being able to consistently fight with someone who was right around her level, and able to consistently push her. It was also nice that they were able to keep pushing each other. She'd not really had that before. There had always just been a clear line of people who were above her, and those who were below her. Having someone who was actually on the same level was a new experience.

[-]

Ranma smiled at Shampoo as he said his goodbyes. They'd completed their loop, and worked their way back up to the northern peninsula where they'd entered China near Weihai. From here it'd be a long swim to South Korea, and a shorter swim to Kyushu, with smaller islands they could stop and rest at on the way. Despite the length of the swim even Genma wasn't crazy enough to mess with the North Koreans. Then it was just a matter of working their way back to Honshu and to Tokyo.

Shampoo had agreed that this constituted chasing him to the end of the earth, and that she'd fought and pursued him to this point. The promise of the Kiss of Death had been satisfied, honor was appeased, and Shampoo had given up her desire to actually kill him long ago. Ranma held her hands, wanting to ask her to come with him but knowing he shouldn't, and she probably wouldn't accept anyway. She'd find someone who was the right guy for her. She was a wonderful woman that he'd found himself looking up to as time had went on. He just wished it didn't hurt so much.

Ranma was comforted to see a tear roll down Shampoo's face, and realized she wasn't the only one who was crying. He wasn't sure which of them initiated the hug.

[-]

Author's Notes:

I decided to restructure Chapters 1-3, and effectively add in an entirely new chapter for a few reasons. I'd originally almost considered ending the fic on what was the original ending of chapter 3, and is now chapter 2. Then I decided I wanted to play around with the concept in Nerima, and worked around from there.

As this has really begun to develop, I increasingly felt that I wanted more of what happened in China on the table. The result is the arc ends on a more somber note, instead of the more hopeful note of initiating the run again in the original ending of the original Chapter 3. Basically Chapter 1 is now the old 1&2, Chapter 2 is what Chapter 3 was, and the current Chapter 3 is all new material.


	4. Chapter 4

[-]

Ranma dragged his feet. He wasn't looking forward to returning to the tedium of school, and having to do what he was told. It was all so boring. At least in China he'd had a fight to look forward to everyday, and something crazy at least once a week. There'd even been this stuff called "Dragon Whisker" soup, that a bunch of crazy little bald guys whose heads looked like meat buns had been after. That'd been a fun fight.

Thankfully he'd not eaten any of that. He liked the simplicity of his ponytail. If he'd eaten that stuff he would have had to braid it everyday. Shampoo had insisted on braiding it anyways, just to see what it looked like. After that she'd started taking a liking to just up and change his hair style at odd moments, all while encouraging him to grow it out. As a result his hair currently hung down to his mid-back instead of his shoulders.

This however was going to be boring. He had school to look forward to, and more school, and even if he went after the school bullies that'd last like a week. Even with his long hair to bait them out his father had indicated this was a normal school, unlike the rough all male schools he'd attended before where there'd usually been at least someone he could fight. Then it'd just be school, and more school, and exams. Sure he could fight his old man, but the novelty of that had worn off sometime around middle school. This was going to be tedious and boring.

Ranma glanced up as he felt water droplets begin to hit him. It was raining, and the old man had been making a big point about how they were supposed to meet his friend today, and needed to pick up the pace. That meant they were currently waiting for them. Ranma smirked as he noticed his hair turn red. He checked the ziplocked spare he'd made of his Dad's postcard, and took off.

The old man growled and barked behind him. Yeah like he was going to give him a chance to reschedule.

[Meanwhile]

The hot days of summer had begun giving way to chilly days of autumn. Harvest time would come soon. Joketsuzoku spread out peacefully having tucked itself in for the night.

"You did what?!"

[-]

Ranma was greeted at the door by two women with a man behind them, and a girl in a yellow gi that was handing around behind them who didn't seem sure whether she wanted to be part of this or not. They all looked at him in curiosity.

"Is this the Tendo residence?" He asked.

"Yes." The taller woman responded.

"And you're Soun Tendo, right?" He asked pointing at the old man.

"Yes." The man declared proudly. "And who might you be?"

Good, third time was a charm afterall. "I'm Ranma Saotome." He announced, and resisted the urge to curl into a ball as his thumb hit soft girl bits. Why'd those things have to be so sensitive?

"Are you alright?" The taller woman with long brown hair asked.

"You're actually rather well endowed there aren't you?" The slightly shorter woman asked, while helping herself to a feel, and she just kept kneading away as she turned to her father. That actually felt rather nice.

"You said Ranma was a boy Daddy. Does this..." Opening!

"Why don't you buy me dinner, and you can squeeze them during the movie?" He asked playfully as he latched onto her.

"Ddd..." The woman went rock still.

"Hey, you can't just fondle a girl's breasts. You have to take responsibility." He declared righteously while waving his finger in her face.

"She's right Nabiki." The taller woman said.

"Kasumi." The shorter woman who he assumed was Nabiki whined. "It's not like that."

"Okay." Ranma declared letting go of her.

"I..." Nabiki's voice dropped several decibels, as she turned in his direction. "Okay?"

"You grabbed me so suddenly and you just kept playing with them, but I'm sure you had a good reason to do that. " He said innocently with a smile.

"Nabiki weren't you looking for someone to see that Dirty Pair movie with? Why don't you take her?" The taller woman who he assumed to be Kasumi encouraged. "It'll be a girl's night out."

Nabiki pressed her hand against her head. "I'm going to my room." She declared.

Ranma looked after her questioningly. "She was really excited to meet you." Kasumi noted.

"I guess I'm not what she expected." He said as he scratched one of his cheeks. Wow, he hadn't expected any of these people to actually care. With the way these things usually played out he'd expected them to put on a nice face, and then start shaking his the old man down for some debt. Ranma blinked. Wait. "So was she really looking forward to a boyfriend then?"

"Yes, and Daddy said you'd been to China. She was really looking forward to meeting you." Kasumi answered cheerfully. Ranma blinked, was she trying to play matchmaker?

"So you practice martial arts?" The girl that had been hiding around the corner, looking like she was deciding whether she wanted anything to do with this asked. Ranma nodded. "Wanna spar?" The girl asked.

Why not? "Sure." He chirped.

[-]

Genma stood in front what he assumed was the Tendo residence. Things had changed so much in the past decade. This was his fifth try, and after the third there was an animal control truck roving around the area, but he was sure this time he'd found it. He nosed open the door and let himself in.

"Hey father, there's a giant panda." A woman with long brown hair declared.

Genma noted there was a teapot on her stove. Oh good, that made things simpler.

[-]

"Let's just have a fun little match. Don't worry I won't hurt you." The girl said pleasantly, before settling into a textbook stance and looking at him with what he could only describe as aggressive determination. Ranma looked at her in slightly puzzlement as he clasped his arms behind him.

He shifted slightly to move out of the path of her blows only bouncing back slightly when necessary. After fighting Shampoo for over a month, this was like playing with a kid. It was kind of amusing, but he wasn't getting anything out of this. Kasumi had said something about Nabiki wanting to see a movie. He hopped over the girl as she finally forced him back enough that the wall would have started to get in his way. Maybe this Dirty Pair thing would be fun?

He glanced back as he heard wood splinter. The girl's arm was buried up to her elbow into the fractured wall, and noticing his glance she stared laughing nervously. Whatever.

"You're pretty good." He heard a 'compared to me' in there. "I'm glad you're a girl." He looked back. Say what? "Well I'd really hate to lose to a guy."

Yeah, a movie sounded good about now. It'd probably be some sappy love story thing, but he hadn't seen a movie in over two months. He was willing to take his chances.

[-]

Kasumi intercepted him at the door. "You must be sweaty from sparring with Akane." She hand him a folded up towel. "The furo is upstairs."

Ranma checked himself. No, he hadn't broken a sweat. Oh, she was playing matchmaker again. "Thanks." He declared walking up the stairs, and over to the door labeled Nabiki. He knocked.

After a moment he heard a chair shift, and the door opened just enough for Nabiki to peak out. A pop song he was unfamiliar with was playing in the background. She looked him and up and down, before quickly scanning the immediate area.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier."

Nabiki blinked. "No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have grabbed you like that."

"How about that movie?" He asked.

"East of Eden? You want to go watch a Dirty Pair movie?"

"It sounds like fun."

Nabiki paused and opened the door the rest of the way letting him in. He noticed she had a lot of stuff in here. There were posters of various bands and anime covering the walls, a boombox with a stack of tapes, and...

"You draw?" He asked noticing a neatly organized set of pens sitting around a sheet of paper that had various figures drawn on it.

Nabiki looked at him in indignation. She pointed to a poster with two women on it, who were both wearing some kind of battle armor. "That's what we'd be going to see." She declared.

"It looks interesting." He commented honestly.

Nabiki blinked. "You actually want to go?" She slowly walked back to her chair and sat down. "She actually wants to go." Her defensiveness disappeared. "Okay Ranma, we'll go after dinner."

"Sounds good." He said before excusing himself. Akane was out in the hall, with a towel wrapped around her damp hair, walking from where he assumed the furo to be.

"Hey there." She greeted before ducking into her room. He slid down the bannister, and hopped off.

"So you see Soun that's how it is." And the old man had finally caught up.

Ranma peeked in to see the old man was sitting next to the man in the brown gi from earlier. The currently human old man, who'd undoubtedly just explained the curse. He just went ahead and slipped into the room.

"So do you think he believes you, old man?" He asked, sitting down next to him.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I had not witnessed it with my own eyes." Soun declared, nodding sagely.

"So what's the story?" He asked, looking attentively at Soun.

"First, I'd like to receive assurances that you are in fact a boy." Soun declared.

"What you can't take the old man's word for it?" He asked slyly. Anyone who did was an idiot, but that didn't mean they'd be willing to say it to his face.

He could see the little gears turning in Soun's head. Ultimately he wasn't one of the ones that'd call his old man out. "We promised long ago that our children would be married to carry on the Anything Goes Style of martial arts."

"And?" Ranma asked, looking meaningfully at his old man. He'd learned the old man's rules of acquisition. Voluntarily honoring debts wasn't part of them.

"I've got photos." Soun added. That was more like it.

"How about I make you a deal Mr. Tendo. Why don't you let me take Nabiki to a movie tonight, and we can tell everybody about Jusenkyou later?"

"You favor Nabiki then?" He asked in surprise. "Done."

"What? Is there something wrong with your middle daughter?" He asked.

"No, no, of course not." Soun declared while laughing nervously. Wow, these two were birds of a feather alright.

[-]

"That was fun." Ranma said as they stepped out of the movie theater.

"You like this kind of stuff?" Nabiki asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Kei was awesome and then at the end everything blew up with all the Vizorium turning into monsters." He said, emphasizing with hand gestures.

"I thought Yuri was better."

Ranma allowed himself a giggle. "You would. So friends?" He asked.

"Sure, friends." Nabiki without any reservations.

[-]


	5. Chapter 5

Ranma woke up feeling reinvigorated. He stretched enjoying the feel of tendons being pulled to extension, and that slight burning sensation as the blood rushed in. The birds were chirping, the air was nice, and everything seemed to be in order. He was looking forward to telling Shampoo about that movie he'd seen with Nabiki last night. That had seemed like something she'd really enjoy.

And as Ranma looked over it hit him. He wasn't in China anymore. Shampoo was hundreds of kilometers away. He felt listless as he felt a pain in his chest tugging at him. He was going to miss her.

[Meanwhile]

Shampoo stared down in silent horror. She'd actually barely managed to deflect the Elder into one of the pools. She was so dead.

A blur erupted from the pool, and she finally got a good look as the figure took a perch on a pole. Run away! Run away!

[-]

Ranma knocked on Nabiki's door. He heard her stir inside, and come to the door. Opening the door Nabiki looked at him sleepily. "Good morning. What are you doing up so early on a Sunday?"

"Can we talk?" He asked, bowing his head slightly and letting the red hair messily fall down. He'd not felt like putting in the effort to pull it back together into the ponytail yet.

"Is that all? Come in." Nabiki said pulling up a chair as she plopped down on her bed. "It looks like something is bothering you."

Ranma looked to the side scratching his cheek. "Well I had a friend in China."

"And you miss them?" Nabiki asked completing the thought, while propping her head up on her hand.

Ranma nodded.

"Let me grab my pad." Nabiki said, grabbing it and her can of pencils off her desk. Items firmly in her possession she sat down on the side of the bed and started sketching. "Could you take your shirt off?"

"You're not going to frame it are you?" He asked.

Nabiki looked up from her pad, startled. "It's not like that. It's harder to get the picture right when there's clothes."

"Okay, but I'd better not find someone else running around with that." He said undoing the buttons of his shirt. He tried to shake out his hair so it wasn't a complete mess. "That better?"

Nabiki looked up and nodded, before returning her attention to the pad. She was really getting into that. He told her about Shampoo, and how they'd fought everyday, and some of the highlights of the crazy things that had happened. He knew Nabiki was listening, because she would ask about things that had happened and throw in comments from time to time. He felt a little better.

"You drew quite a few of those." Ranma noted.

"The poses are different." Nabiki said defensively.

Ranma sat down on the bed next to her, leaning over supporting himself with his hand near the far edge of the bed, and thrusting his chest out trying to imitate a sexy pose he'd seen once in a magazine that had been making the rounds. "So do you like redheads?" He asked slyly.

Her response wasn't disgust, but it wasn't enthusiasm either. Ranma straightened up, and started buttoning his shirt back up. "I guess I shouldn't tease you like that, but you started it." He declared while sticking his tongue out at her.

She giggled. "Thanks for modeling for me." Nabiki said while looking wistfully at her pad.

"It sounds like there's a story there." Ranma noted, bumping her shoulder.

"There is." Nabiki responded. It was clear she didn't want to talk about the details. "Thanks for being understanding."

Ranma looked at her. "Nabiki there's something I need to show you."

"Does it have something to do with the thermos and water bottle you brought in?" Nabiki asked.

Ranma smirked. "Ready to have your mind blown?"

"Try me." Nabiki shot back.

Ranma looked at her slyly, and popping the top off the thermos splashed himself in the face. He made a big show of patting his chest. "They're gone. Where'd they go?" He grabbed the water bottle and popping the top off that splashed himself. "Oh there they are."

Nabiki blinked, but seemed more curious than anything else. "So do you change down there too?" She asked while glancing at his crotch meaningfully.

"You're taking this amazingly well." He responded back.

"You're kind of like that character from 'They Were Eleven.'"

Ranma blinked. "They were eleven?"

"There should have been ten. It's still at the discount theater, so how about we go see it after breakfast?" Nabiki offered

Ranma blinked. "Uh, sure." He let himself out.

[-]

"You and Ranma seem to be getting along well." Kasumi said, as she let herself in with a load of clean clothes.

"Yeah we're going to see They Were Eleven after breakfast." Nabiki responded, as she debated what outfit to go with.

Kasumi looked at her in concern. "Isn't that the movie you and Satori watched, before all those weird rumors started?"

"Ranma's different Kasumi, it'll be fine." Nabiki paused. "Hey Kasumi do you believe in magic?"

Kasumi looked at her in puzzlement. "Why do you ask?"

"Well apparently Ranma has some kind of spell on her. Instant guy, just add hot water." Nabiki said while miming pouring a kettle.

Kasumi reaction made it clear she didn't take her seriously. "Would you like me to get out something nice for Ranma? I looks like she only has travel clothes."

Nabiki blinked. "She's a little short to wear my stuff. Do you still have my old clothes that Akane wouldn't touch?"

Kasumi grinned. "Let me get them."

[-]

Akane started out on her daily morning run doing katas at odd intervals as she went, and alternating between sprinting and jogging. She was going to push herself to run an extra half a kilometer today.

[-]

Ranma looked suspiciously between Kasumi and Nabiki. Those two were grinning like a pair of bandits. "You two are plotting something."

"Well it looked like you only had travel clothes from China." Kasumi started.

"So we dug out some of my old clothes, so you'd have something cute to wear." Nabiki added, as the pair of them started to move to box him in.

He glanced between them warily. "You sure Nabiki? I might spill tea or something on them." He asked her meaningfully.

A couple of weeks ago his girly parts had started bleeding, and Shampoo had, had to explain a few things to him. A few days afterwards she'd showed him how to shave down there to help with the odor. After that, letting her play with his hair and play dress up every now and then hadn't seemed like that big a deal. It was kind of fun in its own way. These two weren't Shampoo though, and it'd be really awkward if a "cute outfit" got shredded due to the curse. At least with the stuff Shampoo liked he could often get her to go with something loose enough to accommodate the transformation that'd just have the wrong styling or pattern for a man.

"It'll be fine." Kasumi declared waving that off as she moved closer.

"Don't worry Ranma, they don't even sell tea." Nabiki reassured as they closed in on him.

[-]

Ranma looked at himself in the full length mirror. They'd "escorted" him to Kasumi's room and quickly confiscated his Chinese clothes and "boy shorts." Then playing dress up had commenced, with Nabiki somehow getting her hands on a camera about midway through. Nabiki had explained some of the stuff was only meant for dress up, when he'd asked her why she had a stylized nurse outfit and some other odd costumes.

Nabiki had settled on having him wear something that by comparison was kind of understated, but involved a skirt and a blue bow in his hair. Spotting an opening as Nabiki left to take care of something he quickly snatched Nabiki's camera and slipped the 35mm film into the skirt's small right pocket. She'd made the mistake of leaving it unattended, and he'd taken advantage.

"So ready to go?" He asked.

"Let me straighten out your blouse." Nabiki said, before making the adjustments.

Ranma slipped his hands into the barely there pockets as he followed her only to find that the film wasn't there. Nabiki glancing in his direction smirked while holding up the film canister before making it disappear. Oh, that's how she was going to play it was she?

[-]

This movie was about a crew of cadets, which like Nabiki said was supposed to have ten members, that as part of a final exam ended up on an abandoned space ship. Only when they got there, there were eleven, and the nature of the exam meant none of them knew who the others were. The odd person out was suspected to either be a saboteur or evaluator. What Nabiki had kept calling his attention to was an androgynous character, that was a member of a weird race that chose their gender when they reached adulthood. He had the distinct sense she wasn't just focused on this character for his benefit, and she'd had parts of this conversation before with someone else.

It was a good tense drama film as of course things ended up taking a turn for the worse and people started getting picked off. He'd also managed to swipe the film back and transfer it to the skirt's left pocket so Nabiki wouldn't be able to easily slip her hand in and swipe it back. As they got up to leave she accidentally bumped into him, and after she was done apologizing he noticed the film was missing again. She was good.

"So which do you think I should choose?" Ranma asked given she'd spent almost the entire movie talking about that character.

"You don't have to right?" Nabiki responded.

Ranma looked at her in surprise. He'd not expected an answer like that, and he really wasn't sure what to make of it.

[-]

"Hey Nabiki, the pictures are ready." Kasumi said waving a packet of photos.

Ranma looked over at Nabiki who was looking smug with herself. He had to admit that had been well played. She'd switched the film, and then "defended" the fake to distract him. "Can I have copies?" He asked.

"Of course." Kasumi said, as she started pulling out choice pictures. "Aren't these cute?"

[-]

Kasumi made a very nice dinner, and Ranma couldn't help but notice Kasumi again made a point to sit him right next to Nabiki, and between her and Akane. He'd changed into a fresh Chinese silk outfit with a light blue shirt and dark pants.

His dad was explaining about Jusenkyo, and how he turned into a panda. On cue Soun poured a kettle on him, with water that was way hotter then it needed to be. He got out from under the stream, and glared at the oblivious Mr. Tendo.

"So you see he's a boy cursed to turn into a girl." Soun declared.

Nabiki looked at him pointedly, while the other two reacted with shock. He looked back with a grin. "Did I every say I was a girl?"

Nabiki's mouth opened, and shut after a moment. Gotcha. She knew he had her, but it wasn't like she was going to admit that.

"Still friends?" He asked holding out his hand.

"Friends." Nabiki said with a lot more caution, and a slice of begrudging respect.

"Nabiki!" Ranma noted it was Akane who'd objected. Kasumi seemed more curious than scandalized about the whole thing. "You can't let that freak stay here."

"Why not?" Ranma asked.

Akane looked at him in abject disgust. He just stared back.

"Akane, Ranma's our guest." Kasumi admonished, deciding to step in.

Akane looked at Kasumi like she'd betrayed her. Ranma shifted his gaze to the only person's whose opinion actually mattered here. "What do you think Mr. Tendo? Does the freak get to stay?" The guy couldn't exactly blackmail the old man for something he didn't actually want, or assets the old man didn't have.

"That's Nabiki's decision." Soun declared, deflecting the ball into his daughter's court. Ranma decided to go back to eating. What was going to happen would happen.

"He stays." Nabiki declared after a moment.

[-]

Ranma laid on the roof just enjoying the stars, it was nice to just relax as himself sometimes. He looked over as he heard a ladder being propped up against the side of the house and someone working their way up the ladder. Nabiki's head popped up.

"I'm sorry about Akane." Nabiki said as she carefully worked her way over.

"She seemed really worked up. The rumor mill is going to be eating that up tomorrow." He glanced over at her to find she was sitting on the roof about a meter closer to the ladder, and further up on the roof. She was playing it smart. "The stars are nice tonight."

"So it's been over a month since you got the curse right?"

He looked at her indulgently. "Yes, and in about two weeks." He said tersely before looking away.

"I guess then it'd be about a week for me."

Ranma blinked, and looked back at her. Nabiki smiled back at him. His expression softened. "Thanks. Can I talk to you about that kind of stuff?"

"Sure, and I'm sure Kasumi would be happy to if you wanted to talk to someone else."

Ranma resisted the urge to hug her. "Thank you."

[-]


	6. Chapter 6

[-]

Ranma had been surprised to find out that Furinkan didn't follow the sailor uniform theme so many other schools did. According to the sheet Nabiki had given him girls were to wear a blue dress of at least knee length, with a white shirt. Boys on the other hand were supposed to wear a button up white shirt and black pants. Ranma had checked, and there wasn't anything the sheet said about the cut. As a result he'd retrieved a white silk shirt, and a black pair of pants. At least that wouldn't turn see through when he inevitably got splashed.

Noticing him, Akane humphed and lifted her nose at him as she marched past. Ranma just took a step back and let Akane through. He cracked a grin as Nabiki came down. The female school uniform for Furinkan was kind of frumpy.

"That doesn't suit you at all." Ranma commented as they started heading out.

Nabiki looked at him with amused curiosity. "What makes you say that?"

"You're way too..." He struggled to find a word that adequately described her. Realizing he was letting the pause hang way to long he compromised with sassy. "Sassy, to be wearing something frumpy like that. That outfit from yesterday suited you a lot better."

Nabiki's smile brightened a little bit. "I see you decided to creatively interpret the rules."

Ranma tapped his currently male chest. "Doesn't go see-through when wet."

"Are you planning on getting splashed?" Nabiki asked.

"5,000 yen says I'll not make it to school without getting splashed at least once through no fault of my own."

Nabiki giggled. "Okay, you're on. Hey you were in China in June right?"

"Why do you ask?" Ranma asked puzzled.

"So did you hear about Reagan's speech about opening the Brandenburg Gate and tearing down the Berlin wall?"

Ranma looked at her pointedly. "Like that'd ever happen."

"But just think about what if it did?" Nabiki said clearly happy about the thought.

He had to admit it was a nice thought. Ranma sputtered, and looked over to see that an old woman was cleaning the road with a bucket and ladle. He turned to Nabiki and grinned. "Pay up."

She smirked back and handed a 5,000 yen note over. He turned to put it in his wallet, and felt someone pinch his butt. Nabiki looked at him slyly when he looked in the direction of the obvious culprit. He grinned and bumped her with his hip, before taking off his backpack and sliding a thermos out of it. He paused for a moment as it occurred to him he was now in a city with running water. After a moments consideration he decided to just idly toss the thermos for the moment.

"You like what you see?" He asked.

Nabiki smiled at him and kept walking. He went ahead and popped the thermos and splashed himself. What was going to happen would happen, and he'd just need to adapt from there. Nabiki noticing smiled in his direction before returning to walking.

[-]

Ranma looked at the schoolyard not entirely sure what he was seeing. There was a bunch of boys limping around the yard. The less injured ones seemed to be trying to help the others into the main building. Many of them clutching their stomachs or nursing a blow to the head. It looked like they'd probably all be okay in a couple of hours. There was a lot of talk where groups that looked like they were in the same sports team were reassuring one individual that they'd win next time.

"What happened here?" Ranma asked, stopping to help up a guy dressed in kendo attire.

"They're challenging Akane so they can date her." Nabiki explained, shaking her head. "They do this on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."

"Thank you, fair maiden. How can I repay you?" Kendo guy declared. As unsteadily as he was moving, he was probably seeing double and had just cued in on the ponytail.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "I'm a guy."

The Kendo guy looked at him cross eyed. He said something that sounded like, "With Nabiki?" before his injuries caught up with him and he started to topple over. Ranma shook his head, and pulled the guy onto his back. The least he could do was drag the guy to the infirmary.

"What did they think they were doing?" He asked rhetorically.

"They were probably trying to impress her. Show that they're worthy of her affection. Not that Akane sees it that way."

"So where's your horde of suitors then?" Ranma joked, trying to make light of the situation

Nabiki just smiled.

[-]

Ranma left his classroom at lunch and worked his way up towards Nabiki's classroom. Akane had buddied up with her friends, and quickly left. The others were giving him a wide berth, and under the circumstances he'd rather hang out with Nabiki anyway. As he worked his way up it occurred to him that the guys who'd been limping around the yard were probably representative of the strength of the guys at this school that he could pick a fight with. Guys that had been defeated not just individually but as a group by Akane.

He opened the door to find Nabiki sitting by herself, and the Kendo guy working on something intently while the other students formed into their various groups. Nabiki waved at him as he walked over and sat down.

"So how's your first day been?" Nabiki asked.

"Not bad. The teachers aren't that boring."

"Oh pony tailed girl, I didn't have the chance to thank you earlier."

Ranma turned around. "Don't worry about it. I'm a guy. Name's Ranma, what's yours?"

"I am the great Tatewaki Kuno, rising star of the Kendo world." Kendo guy declared striking a pose arms crossed and looking off to the side trying a little too hard to look dignified.

"He almost made it to nationals last year." Nabiki commented.

"And I will be the top Kendoist in the nation this year." Kendo guy declared in a way that didn't inspire confidence.

Ranma had to smile, the guy was kind of a buffoon, and seemed like someone it'd be really easy to get them to throw the first punch. "So what were you working on?"

"I was trying to express my love of Akane in a Haiku." Without prompting Kendo guy grabbed his notebook and recited off a piece of poetry that was very... interesting.

"Keep working on it." Ranma encouraged.

"I shall do so." Kendo guy declared like he'd just been given an important mission, and went back to his notebook.

Ranma stretched, and turned his attention back to Nabiki who was keeping an eye on him out of the corner of her eye while she was making a show of reading the paper as she ate. Ranma smiled, and made a show of looking out the window. "I need a fight."

"What about Kuno?" Nabiki suggested.

"Someone a little better than that."

"Well why don't you get back in contact with the people you used to fight with?"

Ranma blinked. Yeah, there had to be at least twelve guys in his past that had enough of a grudge to come over here to pick a fight. The question was how to get their attention. His dad had went all over the place as he'd been growing up, it wasn't like he could just run around and waving his hands. He glanced back at Nabiki, and started to ask her if she had any thoughts when he noticed an as in her newspaper. That's it!

"Let's put an ad in the paper."

"For what?" Nabiki asked in confusion.

"For people looking to settle a grudge with me. There's got to be at least a dozen who'd cross Japan to try to kick my ass."

Nabiki looked up and to her left for a moment as something occurred to her. "Do you think they'd pay to fight you?" She asked slyly.

[-]

Ukyo collected her copy of the local paper, as she went about preparing her breakfast. She cooked up some eggs and a couple of slices of toast as she casually flipped through the paper locating stories she'd look closer at later. She stopped as she almost reached the back page.

There in a half page spread was a picture of someone that looked like Ranma, with the heading in big bold print "Looking for Ranma Saotome?" In smaller print was details on contact information, and fees associated with scheduling different types of fights, time slots, and what not. There was also an address with a time tomorrow to schedule a fight in person.

Ukyo just had to stare. She'd spent the last ten years trying to hunt Genma down, and now his jack ass son just went and advertized how to find them? She checked the time, and the train schedules. She was going to have her vengeance!

[-]

Ranma was surprised by the size of the crowd that'd actually shown up. He hadn't figured there'd be so many people with enough of a grudge to bother. He was glad Nabiki had pointed out that he should show up as a girl so he could assess the opposition without being recognized. Kasumi's friends around the neighboorhood had been willing to help for part of the proceeds. He noticed a woman who was sitting on a bench on the edge of it all just observing. Curiosity got the better of him, and he approached her.

"Good afternoon." Ranma said, sitting next to her.

"Good afternoon." The woman responded back.

Ranma scratched his cheek. "So why are you here?"

"I was in the area. Do you know if the main man has shown up?"

"I imagine he's around." Ranma said smiling knowingly to himself.

Ranma had the distinct impression the woman was reassessing him. "So do you have someone special?"

Ranma thought about it. He wasn't really sure what there really was between him and Nabiki. "Maybe. I don't really know." He answered honestly.

The woman giggled. "Well are they fun to be around?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah."

The woman smiled, and glanced at her watch. "It looks like I need to start heading out. If you ever need someone to help you redecorate you home, you can give me a call. Us redheads have to stick together." The woman said giving him a business card.

Ranma glanced at the business card as he watched as the strangely familiar woman walked away. Maybe she was his aunt or something. The old man had always implied his mother had died in childbirth when he'd brought it up. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

[-]

Ukyo blinked as a redhead girl in a cute Chinese style outfit slipped in next to her, and looked at her with interest in a way that was a clear invitation to talk to her. She'd seen a look like that many times before. This girl however seemed particularly cute and playful. She found a smile tugging at her face.

"So what's your story?" The redheaded girl asked before she had the time to come up with something clever.

"I'm here to get revenge on Ranma's father." Ukyo said, trying to keep details to a minimum.

"What about Ranma then?"

Ukyo blinked. She'd actually not really thought about that. Genma had been the one who'd abandoned her, and left her to fend for herself. "I'll force Ranma to tell me where his father is, by force if necessary." She declared after a moment, deciding the Ranma problem was something she could think about later.

The line shifted, and Ukyo took a step forward.

"Well good luck finding Genma, Ucchan."

Wait. What? How had she known about... She turned around to see the redheaded girl standing there. Before she could say anything, the girl hit her lightly and declared, "Tag, you're it." before taking off in the other direction through the crowd.

After a moments hesitation Ukyo took off after the redhead struggling to make her way through the crowd before finally breaking free in time to notice the girl running a couple of hundred meters further down the street. She gave chase.

She raised an eyebrow the girl suddenly jumped off the street and started to run along the wall to avoid a group of pedestrians. This was no normal girl. Ukyo jumped picking a slightly different path as she ran along the wall. The redhead glanced back, and noticing this grinned, and jumped onto the roof a nearby building before starting to jump between roof tops. Ukyo followed her for a little bit on the street before shifting to the rooftops herself. Whoever this girl was she had some serious power, and she was fast.

The girl dropped out of her field of vision, as she dodged into a row of A/C units on a large squarish building. Ukyo noticed on her approach that it didn't look like the girl had continued on, and slowed her pace appropriately. She grabbed a pair of shuriken-spats off her bandoleer as she cautiously approached the A/C unit farm.

She noticed the glint of a metal wire a second too late as snare wire closed around her ankles and ripped her off her feet. Ukyo quickly threw one of the shuriken-spats in the direction she was being pulled, and threw the other one with enough force to cut through the wire. No longer having any tension on it she was able to easily just use her legs to force the snare open causing it to fly off somewhere. She spotted the redhead crouched on one of the A/C units grinning at her playfully.

The redhead started to turn to run off, but Ukyo quickly grabbed a special bag of flour and threw it. The bag exploded over the redhead's head, and Ukyo could hear her coughing as she was engulfed in a cloud of flour. Pulling the mega-spat off her back, she dodged around the cloud, and closed the distance opening with a jab of using the blunt end. The redhead dodged out of the way still trying to clear her lungs, and started in with a series of blows of her own. Ukyo maneuvered the mega-spat like a staff dodging and deflecting, as she worked her way around finding an opening.

The redhead made a mistake, and let the blunt end of her mega-spat get between her legs. Ukyo quickly reversed sweeping the girl's feet out from under her. Or would have if the girl hadn't jumped. Having anticipated such a possibility Ukyo quickly ripped a packet of noodles off the back of her bandoleer, and deployed them entangling the redhead's legs is a mess of sticky noodles. That caught the redhead by surprise, and there was simply nothing she could do as Ukyo used the noodles to slam her back down into the roof.

Quickly moving in on the temporarily stunned redhead, Ukyo sat on her. "Feel like talking now?" There was a brief moment of fear that played across the girls face when she'd sat on her, but now that she'd made it clear she wasn't going to hurt her the girl's expression had softened.

"You've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, Ukyo." The redhead said with clear respect. "This is going to be hard to explain." She said while scratching her cheek nervously. She was really cute when she was shy like that.

"Why don't you start by telling me where Genma is?"

"Probably at the Tendo Dojo, although you might not recognize him on account of the fur." The redhead said slyly. Fur? What was she talking about?

"And who are you?" Ukyo asked.

"There's a pizza place just down the street. Why don't we go there, and I'll try to explain everything?" The redhead asked. Ukyo had the impression the girl wasn't going to try to run on her again, so she released the noodles.

"Okay, it'll be my treat." Ukyo said putting on her best lady-killer smile as she stood up and offered her hand to pull the redhead up.

[-]


	7. Chapter 7

[-]

Ukyo pulled at little too hard as she helped the redhead up, yielding her two armfuls of well endowed spunky redhead. If this was Ranma's girlfriend she was going to have to steal her. This girl was just too much.

"You okay?" She asked.

"You are a girl." The redhead said, almost as if confirming it to herself. Ukyo felt the redhead's hands come up and wrap around her back. "And you're wearing chest binding under that boy's uniform." She said happily.

"It looks like you found me out."

The redhead cuddled up to her, and Ukyo just had to smile. "So that's why you pulled me like that?" The redhead asked.

Ukyo realized the redhead had seen right through her. She waited for the spunky little redhead to pull away, slap her, or otherwise express her displeasure. Instead the redhead just kept holding tightly on to her.

"Why don't we talk about it over that pizza?" Ukyo suggested.

[-]

The redhead paused and looked at her strangely when Ukyo pulled out the chair for her. After a second the redhead seemed to gather her intent, and smiled at her before walking to the other side of the table and seating herself. Ukyo grinned as she sat down.

"You use the ponytail to pick fights?" The redhead asked.

Ukyo blinked. How had she known about that? The only other person she'd known that did that was Ranma. "I don't pick fights."

"You bait them, and let them throw the first punch." It wasn't a question. It was a statement very close to a piece of advice she'd received ten years ago.

[-]

"She killed her Mommy."

"No, I didn't." Ukyo protested as she started crying.

The three girls were picking on her again. They kept telling her how no boy would ever want to marry her. That she was like a boy. That no one would ever love someone like her.

Daddy had said that Mommy had went to heaven giving birth to her. The other kids Mommies had come to visit yesterday. Daddy had tried to come, but he'd had work. The other kids had asked her where her Mommy was. The girls had started picking on her that she didn't have a Mommy. She'd told them her Mommy had went to heaven bringing her into this world.

Ukyo started crying. She hadn't killed her Mommy. Daddy had told her that Mommy had went to heaven to bring her into this world. Daddy had told her that Mommy loved her.

"No one would want to marry you Sayaka, you're mean." Ukyo looked up to see another girl with a ponytail standing between her and the three girls.

Sayaka turned red, and tried to hit the girl, but the girl grabbed Sayaka's hand and pushed. Sayaka fell to the ground and cried. Sayaka's friends ran to go tell the teacher.

The girl turned, and Ukyo recognized her as the other girl that hadn't had a Mommy yesterday. The other girl hugged her. "My mommy went to heaven bringing me into this world too."

Ukyo's eyes went wide and she started crying again.

[-]

Ukyo cringed.

"Come on Ukyo. You have to catch it." Ranma said.

Ukyo looked at the other girl, and stood up again. Ranma wasn't going to actually hit her. She needed to be strong, like Ranma. She nodded for the other girl to do it again.

Ranma start to slowly move her arm like she was going to slap her again. Ukyo rushed in and grabbed hold of the other girl's arm, expecting to get pushed away. She looked at Ranma as the arm didn't move, even though she could feel Ranma trying to push.

"See Ukyo, no leverage." Ranma said as she made a show of trying to push her. "Now push me over."

Ukyo hesitated, but did as Ranma asked pushing the other girl. Ranma fell over, and laughing got up. "You did it, Ukyo."

[-]

Ukyo moved her arms forward and back as she tried to imitate what Ranma was doing. It didn't look right. Ukyo looked at what Ranma was doing, and what she was doing trying to figure out what was wrong.

Ranma slowed down. "Rotate your shoulders." She said twisting her waist.

Ukyo copied the movement, and after a few minutes nodded. Ranma stopped twisting her waist. Ranma pulled her arms back with her palms up. Ukyo quickly copied the motion. Ranma slowly moved her arms foreward, and Ukyo noticed her arms were palm down at the end. She tried to do that, and realized she was rotating her arms. Realizing what the trick was Ukyo tried it a few more times going faster and faster.

"Now do it together." Ranma said as she slowly demonstrated rotating her arm, while she rotated her shoulder.

[-]

Ukyo cried. The teacher had yelled at her for hitting Sayaka, but Sayaka had been calling her names again. Ranma hugged her.

"What happened, Ukyo?" Ranma asked.

"The teacher yelled at me."

"Why'd she do that?"

"Sayaka was being mean, and I hit her."

"Did you hit first?" Ranma asked.

Ukyo nodded.

Ranma shook her head. "Don't hit first."

"But..."

"Sayaka is mean, so get her to hit first."

[-]

Ukyo grinned as the teacher yelled at Sayaka.

[-]

"L-O-O-K" Ranma sounded out, and with some effort pulled it together. "Look."

Ukyo beamed, she was teaching Ranma. "Do the next one." She encouraged.

"J-a-N-E, Johnny?" Ranma said uncertainly.

"No, no, Jane." Ukyo said, and explained the difference.

[-]

"Daddy meet Ranma." Ukyo said proudly. Ranma had asked is she could walk home with her.

"Well hello there. Ukyo's told me a lot about you. How would you like a Okonomiyaki?"

"What's that?" Ranma asked.

"It's really good, and you can make it how you like it." Ukyo declared enthusiastically. She was getting to show Ranma something, and her Daddy made the best Okonomiyaki in the whole world.

Ranma looked at her in gratitude, and her Daddy smiled.

[-]

Ranma looked at her happily as she ate her Okonomiyaki. "Thank you, Ukyo."

Ukyo beamed. She was going to make Okonomiyaki too, and make Ranma smile.

[-]

"So from what Ukyo's told me, you've been teaching Ukyo how to fight." Her Dad said.

Ranma beamed. "Ukyo's really good."

Her Dad smiled. "How about you two spar, and the winner gets an Okonomiyaki?"

They both yelled their agreement.

[-]

Ukyo grinned as she sat on Ranma. She'd won. Giggling she ran over to her Dad.

"Good job Ukyo." Her Dad said with a smile, winking at Ranma.

"Good job, Ucchan." Ranma congratulated her.

[-]

Ukyo raced to the door of their apartment as her Dad came home. He'd had to go the doctor. Her Dad stood in the door with a paper clutched in his hand looking like he was going to cry.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

Her Dad hugged her and cried.

[-]

"Ukyo how would you like it if you stayed with Ranma?" Her father looked like he was going to start crying again.

"What about you Dad?"

"Daddy needs to go away for awhile."

[-]

Ranchan held her. Her Dad wouldn't tell her what was wrong. Ranchan's Dad and her Dad were talking about him taking care of her.

She didn't want her Daddy to go away.

[-]

"Ucchan!" Ranchan called as her father ran away with the cart, her perched on top of it.

Ukyo ran as fast as she could. She didn't see a rock, and tripped. She held back the tears, and getting back up tried to run after her.

[-]

Ukyo sobbed. Ranchan was gone. Sayaka was going to be mean to her.

[-]

"Come on Dad, eat up."

Ukyo looked at her Dad. He was withering away before her eyes.

"Ukyo it's okay." He tried to reassure her. She knew better. He wouldn't tell her what it was, but she could see something was taking her father away from her.

[-]

"Dad." Ukyo tried to be comforting as she watched her Dad trying to suppress the pain as he lie in bed.

"Ukyo, don't cry."

"But Dad, you're..."

"Ukyo why don't you try to find Ranma? You and him got along so well back then."

[-]

Ukyo cried at the family shrine. Her Dad had been cremated, and she'd been left with an inheritance and what was left of his life insurance policy. She was all alone.

[-]

"Ranma, somehow it's you isn't it?" Ukyo asked, as she studied the redhead and so many familiar little things kept jumping out at her.

The redhead looked at her in surprise and hung her head. "Yeah, it's me."

Ukyo started to tear up. The redhead noticing came over and hugged her comfortingly, like Ranma had so many times back then. Ukyo couldn't hold the tears back.

"Ukyo what happened?" The redhead asked.

She told him about how her Dad had died of cancer. About how she had been shunned as a violent girl, and she'd decided to pretend to be a guy. About how she'd started making a point to pick fights, and pick up girls so she wouldn't be found out. And Ranma held her.

[-]

Ukyo noticed that her little redheaded Ranma looked like she was going to cry as they left the pizza place. "Ranma, are you alright?"

Her little redheaded Ranma bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"For what? We were six." Her little red headed Ranma continued to look at the ground, looking ashamed. "Ranma, I forgive you. There was nothing you could have done."

"There should have been." Ranma declared, yelling at her even though Ukyo knew that wasn't Ranma's intent.

"Well why don't we pay Genma a visit then?" Ukyo suggested.

[-]

Genma studied the shogi board. Master had taught them a variation on the classic rules. Anything Goes Shogi Martial Arts was built around a combination of tactical acumen, and using deception to create openings. It was a fine game requiring the finest mind, and the highest level of skill.

"Hey Tendo, is that a flying saucer?"

Soun looked, and Genma quickly rearranged the board. Only a true master of Anything Goes Shogi Martial Arts could hope to respond to such a rapidly changing tactical situation. Genma grinned as Soun turned back and studied the board.

"I guess it was just a trick of the light, Tendo."

"It looks like Kasumi has something for you, Saotome." Soun said pointing. As if he was going to fall for that. He was wise in the ways of Anything Goes Shogi Martial Arts.

"Here you are Mr. Saotome, a copy of Ranma's schedule for the next two months. Ranma really has a lot of friends."

Genma kept his attention on the board. He had Soun on the ropes. If these distractions would stop he could win the game.

"Hey, old man." Genma felt a chill run down his spine at the tone in Ranma's voice. Genma looked back to see his currently female son, and... Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck... He saw a foot rocketing towards him out of the corner of his eye a split second too late.

Genma rolled as impacted with the ground. His son who he'd raised as his own flesh and blood, and had just kicked him halfway across the yard. He struggled to get to his feet as he drunkenly swayed, only to see his currently female son and the Kounji girl flying towards him.

[-]

Nabiki got up as someone knocked on her door. It was about time. Ranma had been gone for awhile. She was in awe of the pile of yen she'd managed to raise. There had been so many people, that a bidding war had actually started for choice slots, and before she knew it she had a pile of yen worth several times more than what she'd anticipated in her wildest dreams.

Opening the door she found a bishounen that was looking way too close with her redhead. She started to get ready to tear into the upstart bishie when Ranma shot her a look. She begrudgingly decided to play nice.

Ranma inviting herself in sat down on her bed, with the upstart bishie sitting next to her. Nabiki decided to sit on Ranma's other side.

"So who's your friend, Ranma?" Nabiki asked with false niceness.

"Nabiki meet Ukyo, she's my childhood friend. Ukyo meet Nabiki, she's sort of my girlfriend." Nabiki blinked. The bishie was what? She wasn't sure if that was better or worse.

"She's your what?" The not-bishie demanded.

"Both of you stop!" Ranma declared while giving both of them a hard look. "Ukyo, I want you to tell her about what happened. Nabiki, I want you to listen."

Nabiki shot the not-bishie a withering look before deciding to at least make a show of humoring her.

[-]

Nabiki sat with her arms crossed. "Nice sob story."

Ranma looked at her incredulously. "Nabiki, don't be a bitch."

"And what are you expecting out of this?" Nabiki shot back.

"Don't you want more than one friend?"

Nabiki opened her mouth and closed it. The redhead had a point. A tortured point she was barely willing to concede, but a point. "You like anime?" Nabiki asked the not-bishie.

"You mean like Go Nagai? Yeah that stuff is awesome." Not what she was expecting, but close enough.

"Ranma said something about pictures?" The not-bishie mentioned hopefully, while Ranma looked at the not-bishie in surprise.

"Those are for personal use." Nabiki said simply. Realizing how that sounded, she quickly clarified. "For drawing practice."

[-]


	8. Chapter 8

[-]

Ranma opened the door to the furo. He'd located a pair of swim trunks, and a colored sleeveless shirt. On this female body they were both baggy and didn't really fit right, but they were manageable like the Chinese style silk clothes he had come to favor. Ukyo had pulled out a black one piece swimsuit with silver highlights. Her explanation for why she had it was that she'd been thinking about possibly going to a pool, given this trip put her outside the range of anyone that would recognize her.

Ranma was trying really hard not to notice how the swimsuit brought out Ukyo's womanly curves, or that she was far from flat chested. Not that Nabiki was underdeveloped or anything. Nabiki however didn't walk around in something that left little to the imagination, and kept giving him inviting smiles.

"So you said hot water turns you back, right?" Ukyo asked as she walked over to the faucet.

"Yeah."

"And cold water brings the redhead back, right?"

"Yeah?" Why was she asking about that?

The faucet heads in the furo were designed so that you could switch the water flow between a faucet or sprayer head. The faucet head was to be used with the small bathing pans, with the sprayer head offering some less traditional options to clean one's self before taking a soak. Mr. Tendo had splurged, and had two such units installed.

Ukyo picked up the sprayer head off the farther faucet, opened the hot water valve, and pulled down the faucet head shifting the flow to the sprayer head. Ukyo tested water, and quickly spritzed him.

"Nothing happened."

"It takes a little more than that." Ranma clarified. The curse wasn't quite that sensitive.

Ukyo turned the sprayer head back on him, and he felt the change start. Ukyo turned the sprayer head off of him. "Wow." Ukyo quickly opened the cold valve, and closed the hot before spraying him again. "That's awesome."

Ranma blinked. "You think so?"

[-]

Ranma bobbed, dodging out of the way of the stream as Ukyo tried to spray him again, while he tried to spray her back. Ukyo opened her valve further, and brought the sprayer up in and arc. Letting go of the spray nozzle we was using he flipped up bouncing off the relatively low ceiling and bouncing to the wall behind Ukyo. His plan was to bounce around getting her to spin around, and giving him a clean opening to spray her.

He landed cleanly on the wall and smirked confidently as he noticed Ukyo was taking a moment too long to turn around, as planned. He started to bounce off the wall for the next one when he spotted that Ukyo had flipped around the sprayer in her hand. He started to move, but got a face full of water. The next thing he knew he was impacting with something, and the floor was rushing up to meet him.

Ranma blinked as he felt a steam of cold water against his leg. He heard a groan, and realized Ukyo was lying under him. He got off of her, and gave her some space. She looked like she was a little out of it but otherwise okay. Ranma started to feel a chill set in. He was soaked, and his shirt was now a cold clammy piece of fabric that was clinging to his girly parts in a way that felt unpleasant. Ranma went ahead and peeled it off tossing it away, he needed a towel.

Ranma paused as he realized that Ukyo was currently staring at something. What was she looking at? He glanced behind him. There was nothing there. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

Ukyo shook her head in response. Whatever. Grabbing a towel he dried himself, and draped the towel over his shoulders, before grabbing another one and tossing it towards Ukyo. That was much better. Walking over he sat down next to her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Uhm, Ranma as much as I'm liking the show, maybe you should cover up." Ukyo said pointing.

Cover up what? Ranma looked down at what she was pointing at and noticed a pair of familiar bumps. Oh yeah, those were there. "You like them?" He asked. The only other girl that had taken any interest in them was Nabiki.

Ukyo nodded.

"Do you want to touch them?" He asked hesitantly.

Ukyo grinned, and looked like she was going to take him up on the offer when to door to the furo slid open. Nabiki poked her head in and quickly located them.

"It looks like you two are getting familiar with each other." Nabiki deadpanned, walking in, in a light blue one piece swimsuit.

Grinning mischievously, Ranma looked at Ukyo. "She likes them too. She even drew pictures."

"Hey, it's not like that." Nabiki objected. "I needed a model, and it's hard to get everything posed right if someone's wearing clothes."

"Then this is okay, right?" Ranma asked, making a point to sit next to Ukyo.

Nabiki shot him a look, and he grinned back. "Ranma, why are you topless?

[-]

"Where are thou, fair Akane?" Kuno recited. Oh the fiery Akane. Truly she was a beauty worthy of his affections. She was possessed of a fiery spirit he had not seen any other girl possess. How he yearned to tame that fair tigress. If only she would permit him to date her, he was sure he could win her over with his charm.

"Hey Kuno." Akane waved at him as she jogged past.

Next time. Next time, he would summon the courage to tell her how he truly felt.

[-]

Nabiki had filled up the furo with lukewarm water, which wasn't enough to effect the curse one way or the other. She'd pulled out a green one piece girl's swimsuit, with blue highlights, which had turned out to actually be the right size for this girl body. He'd started to ask how she'd managed that, and then thought better of it. She'd probably taken measurements when they were playing dress up, or something. That had made him suspicious that some of the things he'd seen Kasumi recently sewing were intended for him. What was with those two, and playing dress up?

Nabiki had made a point to sit between him and Ukyo in the furo. Giving both of them a little lecture on how they needed to keep their hands to themselves, and the furo was for relaxing together, not making out.

"So Ukyo what do you like about Ranma? I notice you don't seem to mind the redhead."

"The truth is that back then I thought he was a girl. So even though as I grew up I realized my mistake, it just kind of seems right that he'd be a girl, and a boy."

Ranma looked at her in surprise. "Was it the ponytail?" Even back then he'd worn his hair like that, although he hadn't quite yet learned the perks of it. His Dad had, had this weird fascination with how valuable hair was that he'd never really understood, and was loathe to have it cut.

Ukyo blushed. "Kind of. Ranma, I... looked up to you back then." The way she said it made it clear there was more to it than that.

Ranma remembered that back when they'd first met he'd really just been looking for someone he could pick a fight with, and try out some of the moves his Dad had shown him. He'd found this kid no one would play with being picked on by some girls for his mother dying in childbirth, and he'd decided to make a point to intervene. Originally he'd just intended to teach the guy how to fight, because the guy was so pathetic.

Then one thing led to another, and he'd had his own little sidekick as they'd taken on everyone in the school that could be baited into starting a fight. That'd led to other things, and ultimately he'd trained exclusively with Ukyo because he'd been the only kid that could put up a decent fight. Somehow in the process off all that their friendship had become something more than that.

"I guess I can understand. I kind of thought you were a guy." He admitted.

Ukyo looked at him in surprise, and then blushed. "I guess I kind of turned into one." Left unspoken was the effect his curse had, had along those lines.

Nabiki looked between them. "You two are a piece of work." She said while shaking her head. Wrapping her arms around both of them, she pulled them close.

[-]

Akane grappled with her Dad, and threw him over her shoulder. She was starting to build up a sweat from training with her father. She'd show him what a proper martial artist was. How dare he make a fool out her masquerading as a girl, and then have the audacity to come on to her sister?

[-]

"So here's your schedule Ranma." Nabiki said, handing him a thick packet of papers.

Ranma flipped through them. He raised an eyebrow. That's odd. "I don't recognize most of these names, is this Kaori Daikoku I'm fighting tomorrow morning a girl?"

Nabiki looked thoughtful for a moment as she looked through her copy. "Yeah, it was her and her Dad. They were really adamant about being first."

"Nabiki, I mostly went to all boys schools. I'm pretty sure this girl isn't someone I used to fight with."

Nabiki looked through her papers again. "There isn't a note here on why she wanted to fight you.

Ranma rolled over the implications of that in his mind. The most obvious conclusion was it had something to do with the old man. The problem was that the old man wasn't going to admit to anything. It'd be faster and less convoluted to just ask this Kaori Daikoku tomorrow, what her angle was.

"I guess we'll just have to see tomorrow."

[-]

Akane spotted an unfamiliar cute boy standing near the Koi pond, looking at the stars. She didn't recognize him as someone from her school, and the uniform was not that of Furinkan High School. Curious as to his presence she walked over to him.

"Hi, I'm Akane Tendo." She greeted.

The boy with the brown ponytail looked at her for a second. "Ukyo." He acknowledged before going back to looking at the stars. Akane waited a few seconds, but he didn't turn back to her or strike up a conversation. Sighing to herself she started to walk back towards the house only to see Ranma walk past her. What was he doing?

"Hey Ukyo, here's the pictures. I included some ones from middle school." Akane blinked, scandalized, as the pair of them hugged. "Take care of yourself." Ranma said, throwing a mock punch.

Ukyo grinned. "Don't let anyone beat you up while I'm gone."

"I'm not planning on it."

Akane growled. Why did he have to be Ranma's friend?

[-]

Ukyo started working on sorting through the pictures. They were about two thirds redhead, and one third a slightly younger Ranma. She smiled resting her head in her hands as she looked at them spread over her desk. She could see Ranma in all of them.

Picking out one of the pictures of the redhead in a relatively normal outfit that she liked and was willing to trim down. She was going to have to show her girlfriend off afterall. Ukyo grinned as she thought back to how defenseless Ranma could be as a girl. She thought back to how she'd used to look up to Ranma as the only other girl like her. As she'd grown up she'd realized her mistake, and it just seemed ironic that when she'd finally met Ranma again he had been a girl due to ancient Chinese magic.

Wiping out a shuriken-spat, Ukyo tossed the picture in the air and quickly took a few purposeful swipes. The trimmed down photo floated down to her desk, as the scraps fell away.

"It's all in the reflexes."

[-]

Ranma woke up to find his father, and more importantly his father's pack, mysteriously absent. Pinned to the old man's futon was a short note about how he was going on a training trip. He'd been around the old man long enough to recognize that was code for disappearing so he could lie low. Moving quickly on a hunch he found the old man was still on the premises, quickly eating a breakfast prepared by Kasumi.

"Where you going old man?"

"Well you and Nabiki seem to have sorted things out, so I thought I'd take a training trip. Get out of your hair while I get in some exercise." The old man declared.

"You sure old man?" Ranma asked skeptically.

"I've got it all figured out Ranma."

"Your plan isn't to 'train' by posing as a panda at the local zoo is it old man?"

"Of course not son." Genma declared while he adjusted his glasses. "I'm going to go to Ueno, they're better stocked."

Ranma just stared at the old man for a second. "Yeah, I'm sure the bamboo is so much better over there, pops. What are you so afraid of?"

"Nothing son. I'm sure you'll do the name of Anything Goes proud."

Ranma just had to roll his eyes. It was pointless to try to get anything out of the old man when he was like this. "Yeah well enjoy your bland bamboo."

[-]

Author's Notes:

I wonder how long he'll be able to keep that up? Bland, oh so bland bamboo. No home cooked meals from Kasumi. :) I debated ending on Ukyo waking up from a dirty dream involving a redhead, but this seemed more appropriate.


	9. Chapter 9

[-]

A girl of average looks was waiting in the local park, stretching and practicing with katas. She wasn't ugly or anything, but she was nothing special. She was wearing a form of traditional Japanese work clothes that looked like they'd been modified to discreetly carry various bits of equipments. She looked like she was probably a ninja style fighter, like Ukyo. A lot of dangerous tricks and equipment based off common everyday things that people normally wouldn't give a second glance.

He was going to take this a lot more seriously than what he'd done with Ukyo. This wasn't playing around with an old friend and getting a feel for where they actually were. This person had come here to fight today for a reason, and he didn't intend to lose.

"Ranma Saotome?" The girl asked.

He nodded and asked in response. "Kaori Daikoku?"

The girl brightened, and nodded. "Do you have a girlfriend?" Ranma blinked. She didn't look that bad. Whatever, he didn't have time to worry about the fickleness of desperate girls.

"Yes." He responded, quickly changing subject he asked. "I don't believe we've ever met before. Mind telling me the reason that you want to fight me?" Not that he really cared that much, a fight was a fight, but it'd be nice to have an idea what this was about.

"I'll tell you, if you can defeat me." The woman declared before taking off.

[-]

Ukyo smiled as she looked at the picture of Ranma she'd trimmed down as she walked to school. She really liked spunky redheads, and now she had one of her own. After school she was going to catch the first train after school to Furinkan, and she was going to spend some quality time with her. Not that Ranma wasn't attractive as a guy, but with a simple splash she and Ranma could just start making out without anyone making an issue of it. Ranma didn't seem to mind.

"What are you looking at, Ukyo?" Sho asked running up along side.

"My girlfriend." Ukyo declared, while proudly showing off the picture.

"Wow, a redhead. She's pretty cute. Why do you always snag the good ones?" Sho grumbled.

"I got the moves." Ukyo declared, falling back on her usual bravado.

[-]

Ranma smiled as Kaori demonstrated that she had the capability to run walls and hop rooftops. This looked like it was going to be fun. Nabiki had planned this so they'd be taking a route around the city, ending at the school. As she'd explained it to him there really wasn't a way to hide what school he went to while doing something like this, but that didn't give them much of a starting point to track him down and break the schedule. Sure they were going to find out eventually, but there was no reason to simply give that information away.

Ranma dodged out of the way of a cloud of thinly sliced fish sausage that bit into the ceiling tiles where he'd been moments before. That was a variation on the Iron Cloth technique. Against most opponents that would have hurt, and effectively have been impossible to really avoid. It was also based on something the girl could carry quite a bit of ammo with. He was becoming rather impressed with this girl.

Picking up speed he closed the distance, curious as to what she was going to try next. He wasn't disappointed as she threw a pair of chopsticks that would have nailed him in the leg, if he'd still been where they'd been thrown. He noted that the chopstick had buried itself a good bit deeper in the ceiling tile it hit than the thinly sliced fish sausage. Not a bad trick, and again based off something that the girl could carry a bunch of ammo with. From what he'd seen of Ninja style fighters this girl knew her stuff. So far she seemed to be a lot more limited than Ukyo, but he wasn't going to hold that against her.

"Any other tricks?" He asked.

The girl glanced in his direction in surprise. "Of course."

She tried the noodle thing, but after Ukyo had gotten him with that yesterday he had been on the look out when she'd pulled out the packet. If he'd not been looking for it she might have gotten him with it like Ukyo had yesterday, but he was and she didn't. Perhaps recognizing that attacking while wall running wasn't helping her too much, or perhaps because she'd reached a spot she'd previously picked out, the girl landed, and turning around shifted into a fighting stance.

Ranma landed a few meters away, and took a defensive stance curious as to what the girl's next move would be. Based on what he'd seen so far, she seemed to have a pretty good idea what she was doing. As he took a step forward he noted that the ceiling under his feet gave ever so slightly, feeling taut instead of the normal firmness of solid concrete. This was a prepared arena. He quickly glanced around mentally accessing how much of the roof was probably actually solid. Most of it wasn't.

Ranma spent a moment assessing possible reasons for such a thing, as he took a step back onto the actual concrete portion of the roof, and circled a little bit confirming that there was more of a concrete lip. Given that Kaori seemed to be making a point to stay on what he estimated to be the concrete edge on her side, he suspected the plan was to drop him into whatever was being covered up here.

He leaped over to Kaori's side dodging at least two packets of noodles and a small flurry of chopsticks with a few well timed spins, and a few quick shifts of bodyweight at the right time. The girl quickly moved in using a lot of open handed strikes that he dodged or deflected. As she overcommited on a strike, Ranma swung around kicking her towards the center of the roof. Kaori quickly bounced off the covering, agilely flipped herself around and landed in the center of the roof. Ranma noticed that seemed to actually be solid.

Okay, he was starting to get the idea now. There was probably a pit of something under the covering. He could think about a few dozen ways to exploit that, but that largely boiled down to either it was a trap for him to land in, a battlefield for Kaori to exploit with her particular skills, or both. This looked like it was going to be interesting.

[-]

Kaori stamped her foot down on something, and the cover began to lift up and dissolve. Exposed underneath was a gargantuan bowl of ramen which he could feel the hot steam lifting off of. Kaori was currently standing on a small platform in the center that was supported by three pylons, holding an oversized pair of chopsticks. He could see quite a few possibilities with that. Those things would allow her to fish out ramen components to try to attack him with. They'd also give her a pair of poles she could use to prevent herself from falling into the ramen, and give her some reach with a staff to try to force him into the ramen.

He had to admit it was a very nice setup. It also had a very important flaw. "So what happens when I take out the pylons?"

Kaori blinked, and her face took on a look of confusion he associated with someone contemplating a thought that had escaped them. That was pretty much all the answer he needed. He was just about to suggest they call it a fight, when a man with large ears landed on the roof.

[-]

"So what did Kaori have to say for herself?" Nabiki asked as he visited during lunch.

"Apparently my Dad 'sold' me to her Dad for a fish, a bowl of rice, and two pickles. After which my Dad swiped me back, and went on his merry way. He was smart enough to not sign anything, so legally it never happened." Ranma said with a shrug. As Genma had taught him, if someone was stupid enough to give you something and simply take your word for it that you'd pay them back, they were a sucker.

Nabiki blinked. "He likes to exploit that loophole I take it?"

"How many businesses do you know that are willing to waive the cost of having the terms of an agreement written down and legally enforced, because they can trust someone's word?"

"Point, but why would he have wanted to buy you?" Nabiki asked.

"That was my question. Apparently he wanted a male heir to carry on his school as he only had a daughter. The weird part is that they were talking about me marrying his daughter, even though that'd be incest if he'd actually adopted me." Ranma shook his head with a clear look of disgust.

"I'm guessing you turned her down?"

"Yeah. They creeped me out."

Nabiki allowed herself a giggle.

[-]

Ukyo sat down at her desk as she began to eat some okonomiyaki that she'd prepared for herself. It wasn't as good as it was freshly grilled, but it wasn't bad cold. She loved how she could vary the basic concept of the recipe to so many different effects. As the name implied it could be made however you liked it. She looked up as a few of her friends crowded around.

"Hey, Ukyo what's this about you having a new girl?"

"I met a spunky redhead yesterday, and we really hit it off." Ukyo declared confidently as she pulled out the picture again.

"Wow, she even gave you her picture?"

"Damn it Kounji, leave some for the rest of us."

[-]

As Ranma left school he dove into some bushes near the wall and splashed himself with water from a water bottle. Nabiki had made a good case that if "Ranma" wasn't seen leaving the school then they'd have a harder time breaking out of the schedule. Ranma had another reason to spend a little time as a girl as he made his way to the train station.

[-]

Kuno squinted against the glare of the sun as he saw someone bounce out of the bushes, do a very brief one handed handstand on the wall, and hop off. For a moment it had almost looked like the figure was a very well endowed woman with her long hair flapping behind her. It must be an omen that the kami had decided to take pity on his plight.

[-]

Ranma kicked his legs as he waited for Ukyo's train to arrive. He could have pulled out a book and studied. While it was near the start of the year, there would tests coming up eventually. He even tried at one point, but he couldn't focus. Ukyo was going to be here soon!

The train finally pulled up, and Ukyo emerged from the sea of people that flowed out of the train. Rushing over to her, he pulled her to the side and hugged her. That weird warm tingly sensation from below his stomach was back. As his arms wrapped around her back he could feel the chest bindings were there again.

"Did you miss me?" Ukyo asked hugging him back.

"Of course."

Ranma blinked as Ukyo tilted his head up, and started to move in for a kiss. He had a split second to decide whether to try to avoid it. With the feeling of her body against his, that pleasant warm sensation, and urges he didn't quite understand he moved to meet her kiss. Any thoughts about Nabiki or what her reaction to this would be didn't cross his mind as Ranma began to meet Ukyo's kisses.

[-]

Nabiki met the pair of them at the gate to the Tendo compound, looking up from one of those manga weekly magazines she liked. Closing her thick bound magazine as they approached, Nabiki gave them a once over.

"It looks like you two were getting reacquainted." She noted calmly.

Ranma studied her. Knowing Nabiki she might not so much know as she suspected what had happened, and was fishing for confirmation. Oddly she didn't seem to be mad.

"Nabiki, I..."

"I know, I know Miss Playboy here started using her moves on you, and you already had feelings for her." Nabiki walked over to him, and wrapped an arm around his waist. Something about how she was looking at him and holding him conveyed her desire for him. "I know I can't beat her right now, but when her gaze begins to drift to other pastures I'll help you pick up the pieces."

Ranma looked into her understanding eyes, and looked to the side as he felt ashamed and confused. Cheating on her hadn't been his intent, and it was worse because she wasn't mad about it. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, I'm not like that." Ukyo objected.

"I'm sure you've told that to plenty of girls before, and even meant it a few times." Nabiki responded with a smirk.

Ukyo started to deny it, but Ranma decided to intervene. "You don't need to pick on her."

"I'm sorry Ukyo, let's be friends." Nabiki responded, looking meaningfully in Ukyo's direction.

[-]

Nabiki opened her door to find Ukyo standing there by herself. She smirked. "You haven't come to add me to your list of conquests have you?" She asked hanging on the door.

She was rewarded with a blush, by the girl that fancied herself some kind of playboy. She was kind of cute when she dropped the act. "No, I just wanted to talk."

Nabiki opened the door for her, and gave her space to come in. "I want to thank you for giving me a chance with Ranma."

"Is that supposed to be a backhanded compliment?" Ukyo asked raising an eyebrow.

"No. You're a lot more physically capable than I am. You can do a lot of things for Ranma I can't, and Ranma already likes you."

Ukyo blinked. "Thanks?" She asked uncertainly, clearly trying to figure out what she was up to.

"So what do you think about moving to Nerima? You wouldn't need to worry about catching the train back, and we'd all be able to go to the same school."

Ukyo looked at her curiously. "You'd be okay with that?"

Nabiki nodded smiling, strategically not mentioning that in the process she'd be drawing fire for her and acting as her shield against anyone trying to knock off the current girlfriend. After finding out that Ranma had potential girlfriends who were high powered martial artists, she'd taken to looking on the playboy girl in a much more favorable light. She could kind of understand where the girl was coming from and she was actually rather nice, when she wasn't trying to seduce her redhead.

Ukyo hugged her. "Thank you."

Nabiki smiled hugging her back. She could kind of see why Ranma liked this girl so much.

[-]

Nabiki opened her door to find her little redhead standing there. Ukyo had cleared out a little while ago. If she didn't know any better she'd think they were taking turns. Actually maybe they were. Ukyo had apologized for making out with her boyfriend.

"Hey Ranma." She greeted her currently female boyfriend, inviting her in. Ranma showing up at her door as a girl tended to mean he wanted to talk about something he wasn't comfortable talking about as a man.

The redhead sat down on the edge of her bed, and waited for her to close the door. Sitting down on the bed next to her, Nabiki smiled at her. "I forgive you for what happened with Ukyo, but let's not have a repeat episode. Okay?"

Ranma had the grace to look embarrassed as the redhead nodded. She was showing that cute side again. "I'm pretty sure you didn't just come in here to to apologize for that. So what's up?"

Ranma stared at the floor. "You feel that weird warm tingling sensation below your stomach sometimes too right?"

Nabiki smiled as she realized what her currently female boyfriend was referring to. "Sometimes." She said, being intentionally elusive. She waited a few minutes, letting the redhead simmer before she dropped the other foot.

She'd talked about some of this stuff with Kasumi, when she'd been parsing through her coursework. "From what I understand your guy bits get hard sometimes, right?"

Ranma nodded looking at her curiously as her currently female boyfriend demonstrated that he didn't get it.

"Well a girl's bits tuck in up to here." She touched the redhead's abdomen.

The redhead's eyes went big, and her cheeks were rapidly assuming a shade that was very close to that of her hair. "You mean I..." She could see the little gears turning in her head as the ramifications started occurring to her currently female boyfriend.

Nabiki gently covered the redhead's mouth. "You don't need to tell me. How about I ask Ukyo to sleepover, and we can share one of the guest rooms?"

The redhead looked at her for a moment, and then nodded.

[-]

Shampoo blinked as an electronic beeping started in her ear. Where? She looked around in darkness. After a second she remembered where she was. Patting the underside of the aircraft's fuselage she located the cables securing her to the underside of the aircraft's tail. She turned and glanced down. Off to her right and ahead was a massive sea of lights, some of which was reflecting off a large body of water. Flipping a switch near her temple the darkness around her turned red and grainy, revealing the dark shapes of the buildings below.

If she'd not messed things up that should be Tokyo Bay, laid out below. Like her mother had trained her, she checked the harnesses making sure everything was in order. Her mother had never really explained to her what these dark full body "Mongoose" suits were for, beyond being able hitch a ride on an aircraft. She checked the altimeter readout in the upper right of her vision, plenty of altitude to work with. She gave the pouch with the postcard Ranma had left her a slight pat to reassure herself it was still there. Confident that everything was in order, she made some slight adjustments to her air tank, and slammed the release bolts home in one swift motion like she'd been taught.

The cables snapped and flew off taking a different trajectory, as she dropped free. The feeling of weightless hit her, and she waited a moment for the aircraft to pull away as the air drag slowed her down. Confident that she was clear, Shampoo spread her arms and legs opening the squirrel suit's wings. After taking a few seconds to get a feel for it, Shampoo started angling herself towards the heart of Tokyo.

Based on what her mother had told her before she'd left, she wasn't going to be detected under the cover of darkness. The Japanese might get an intermittent blip on RADAR, but they wouldn't have any idea what they were looking at. The problem her mother had emphasized was going to be, being discrete on approach. She was approaching a major metropolitan area, and even a martial artist of her caliber wasn't going to survive impact from this altitude without using a parachute to slow them down a little.

As she continued gliding east Shampoo took note of the layout of the massive metropolis splayed out below her. She tried to pick out what part of it was the Nerima ward she'd seen on the maps her mother had provided her with. After a moment she just shook her head. She had a vague idea what the right area was, but the chaos of buildings below her didn't parse cleanly with the nice lines on the map. Looking closer she tried to pick out some landing sites.

Shampoo counted off as she began to glide past the metropolitan area below. When she reached the intended distance, she moved her arms and legs to adjust the winds slightly so she could bank, bleeding velocity as she turned around and began to line up for an approach. She trimmed her wings slightly trading altitude for some speed towards her intended landing site. Comfortable with her approach she trimmed back slightly for a better glide pattern.

She glanced at the upper right portion of the goggles, checking the altimeter read out again. She still had plenty of altitude to work with. She allowed herself a moment to think about why she was doing this. She'd begrudgingly come to accept that the redhead had been fun to be around, and had grown fond of her company.

[-]

Shampoo jogged as her feet made contact with firm ground, bleeding the speed and energy that she'd built up on her way in. After jogging a few hundred meters Shampoo was able to come to a stop. Grabbing the parachute cords Shampoo began pulling in and packing away her parachute into a large bag that existed for the purpose. Setting it up for another run would involve carefully laying out and folding the parachute, but that was something to be worried about later. Now her problem was getting this parachute packed out of the way so she could easily shift locations, and find some place to stash this equipment so she could get down to the business of locating this "Tendo Dojo."

She only hoped Elder Cologne hadn't gotten there first.

[-]

Author's Notes:

In Episode 24 of the anime Cologne reaches Japan using this completely absurd little bird ship thing that she has tied to be pulled by a passenger aircraft. Mind you she uses a trio of birds to effectively act as a parachute. That reminded me of Escape from New York (1981), especially how Snake Plissken inserts into New York. One thing led to another and the idea for the Mongoose suit came out of that.


	10. Chapter 10

[-]

Nabiki woke feeling that familiar sick and kind of gross feeling. Walking over to a small night stand that was in the room, she grabbed a fresh pad, and the bottle of pills she'd stored there last night. It was going to be one of those days.

She looked over to find Ranma and Ukyo lying in their futons on either side of her. Long red and brown hair splayed out around them respectively. Both of them looked very cute when they were sleeping. As she was just spending a moment looking at the two, Ukyo's cheeks reddened slightly, and she mumbled something that included Ranma's name. It looked like someone was having a dirty dream.

[-]

"Good morning, Kasumi." Nabiki groused as she entered the kitchen to find Kasumi grilling some fish while she was minding a pot of miso.

"Good morning, Nabiki. Has it started yet?" Kasumi asked with a polite inquiring look. Sighing Nabiki went and made a mark on the calendar. She knew Kasumi meant well and she appreciated the heads up it gave her, but having all of them keep track of their periods with discrete marks on the calendar was embarrassing.

"You said Ranma's is next week, right?" Kasumi asked. Nabiki nodded in confirmation. "Do you know what he prefers?"

"Kasumi, I don't think he's ready to stick something up there."

Kasumi looked at her for a moment as she considered that, and giggled. "I think you might be right. I'll need to get some things for him then. So how did last night go?"

Nabiki took a cup of tea that Kasumi offered her and studied it, seeing it but not seeing it. "I just can't win. Those nasty rumors started flying around, and then Satori abandoned me. I get a boyfriend express delivered into my lap that I actually hit it off with, and just as it feels like we have something. She shows up." Nabiki declared waving in the direction of the guest room. "Maybe I should have just fought fire with fire." Nabiki groused dejectedly.

Kasumi looked at her with a comforting smile. "I don't think Ranma sees it that way."

"Kasumi, she's a better match for him. She can do things for him I just can't, and once they finish coupling up she'll force me out."

"What can she do that you can't?" Kasumi asked.

"For starters she can actually fight on his level, and do the rest of that high powered martial artist stuff."

"What makes you think that's something that he wants in a girlfriend?"

Nabiki blinked, as she thought about that for a few minutes. She could see where Kasumi was coming from with that. She didn't really agree, but she could see where Kasumi was coming from. "He has a lot of fun with those." She brought up.

"Has Ranma indicated he was unhappy with sharing your hobbies?" Kasumi didn't share a lot of her interests, but understood that she enjoyed them.

After a moments consideration, Nabiki shook her head. She felt Kasumi rest a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I think you're doing fine."

"Thanks Kasumi." She was pretty sure she'd been friendzoned, but that didn't mean she's lost quite yet. But maybe Kasumi was right, she brought things to the table that the cross-dresser didn't.

[-]

Ranma woke up with a jolt, his hand immediately going to his chest. After a second while catching his breath he realized he was fine, it had just been a nightmare. He shivered, as he recalled the actual incident. If he hadn't gotten lucky with that kick back then it could have easily ended like that.

Looking over he saw that Nabiki's futon was empty, but that Ukyo was still dozing away with a pleasant relaxed smile on her face. Still shivering despite the relatively warm temperature in the room, he slipped into her futon. Ukyo pulled him close, muttering something he couldn't parse out as she continued to sleep. He selfishly snuggled into her warmth, trying to chase the ghosts of what could have been away.

Ranma felt Ukyo stir, and realized he couldn't extricate himself fast enough to matter. "Ranma?" She asked drowsily, blushing for some reason.

He laid his head on her shoulder. "Good morning, it looked like you were having a nice dream." He tried to deflect.

"Ranma, you're shivering." Damn it. Ukyo held him warmly, and didn't say anything.

"You're not going to ask?" He asked quietly after a few minutes.

"You'll tell me when you're ready." Was Ukyo's response.

"You need to catch your train." Ranma reminded her, even though he didn't want her to go.

"It can wait."

[-]

Akane woke up, and went to take a peek. Kasumi had said something about Ukyo staying in the guest room, for some reason she hadn't really paid attention to. Sliding the door to the relevant guest room open slightly to take a peak, she was greeted with the image of the brown haired cute boy in the same futon as a familiar red haired individual. Akane glared, but resisted the urge the throw the door open, drag the perverted freak away, and teach him a lesson.

No, she'd show Nabiki and get the freak evicted. She rushed off and found, Nabiki and Kasumi in the kitchen. "Nabiki, come quick." She said tugging at the sleeve of Nabiki's pajamas.

Nabiki pinched her nose, and looked at her clearly perturbed. "What is it this time, Akane?"

"Ranma's a girl and is in the same futon as Ukyo."

Nabiki just stared at her blankly. "Okay." She said after a moment getting up, and walking annoyingly slow over to the door to the guest room.

Akane took a peak and noticing the situation hadn't changed, slid open the door with a slam. "See!" She insisted pointing.

Nabiki looked at her dismissively. "They're cuddling, what's the problem?"

"What do you mean, 'what's the problem?!' " Akane demanded.

Nabiki blinked, and looked like something had just occurred to her. "Hey Ukyo, would you kindly tell my sister that you have a flower between your legs instead of a sausage?"

Ukyo propped herself up, and Akane could see that there were a pair of breasts there. "Sorry sugar, I'm a girl."

Akane ran.

[-]

"Let her be." Nabiki commented as Ukyo started to get up with the apparent intention of going after her fleeing younger sister.

"You sure that's okay?"

"I think she may have had a crush on you, thinking you were a guy. Knowing my sister, you're better off just giving her, her space and letting her stew."

Nabiki noticed Ranma approach her, and sniffed before her nose crinkled. She jerked in surprise as Ranma hugged her. "It sucks." She didn't need to ask what she was referring to, and after a moments consideration hugged her currently female boyfriend back. Nabiki considered the oddness of the situation for a while before deciding she was fine with it.

"Ranma had a bad dream. She wasn't trying to do anything." Ukyo offered in the way of explanation. Quickly changing subject the brown haired cross-dresser suggested. "Why don't we go to a pool this weekend? There are a few that are open year round around here."

Nabiki looked in her direction, and after a moment her expression softened slightly. "How about something where I don't need to worry about turning the water red?"

Ukyo looked at her in confusion for a second before realization dawned on her.

"Why don't you go ice skating?" Kasumi suggested as she entered the hallway with them.

[-]

Akane delivered a series of punches to a punching bag that she'd convinced her father to allow her to hang off a tree in the yard. Switching her attacks up she delivered a series of devastating kicks while imagining that the bag was a certain redheaded individual that had ruined her life. How dare he make a fool out of her!

The bag didn't respond as her foot slammed into what she imagined to be Ranma's head. There was just the slightly soft feel of her foot slamming into the bag, and the soft thwack sound it produced. She glared at it, as she realized she'd find no solace with this. He would be there as soon as she returned, wrecking their lives. Ready to make a fool out of her again.

[-]

Nabiki looked around as she closed the front door behind her. Shortly before Ukyo had left Ranma had disappeared somewhere, but she had a feeling he was around. She made a point of waiting in the open a few minutes, as Akane started walking down the street and became obscured by the wall that surrounded the Tendo compound. She was rewarded a moment later by Ranma dropping in next to her, and wrapping an arm around her waist. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and with a mischievous grin ran off.

She smiled as she watched him run off. She grinned, she was going to get him back later.

[-]

Ranma looked around the park, and looked back at his copy of the paperwork. He didn't see anyone that fit the description of this Kumi Tokimatsuri girl. There were a few random pedestrians, but none of them looked like they were martial artists. He was just about to leave when he heard a bicycle bell.

He turned in the direction of the sound, and immediately jumped out of the way as a blur slammed into the ground where he'd been. The blur turned and skidded to a stop several meters further down, resolving into a girl with shoulder length green hair in a red and black uniform riding a red bicycle with a pair of pizza bags strapped to a rack on the back. The girl raised a hand in greeting as she looked at him with a slightly bored and disinterested look. He noted her bicycle had a little sign strapped to it's side indicating that it was number 23.

She gave him a once over, and tossed him one of the pizza bags off the back of her bike. Ranma raised an eyebrow and gave it a slight sniff, something seemed off about the smell. "Is there something wrong with this one?" He asked.

The girl's expression changed slightly, and picking up the other pizza bag she spun it on a finger regarding him with her amber eyes before tossing it at him. He caught it on top of the first one, put both of them down and took a step away from them. Anyone who would desecrate food by poisoning it wouldn't be above turning it into a bomb or something.

The pizza girl looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, and walked her bike closer. He moved to the side as she walked over to pair of pizza bags, and picking them up strapped them back down to the rack on the back of her bike. She looked at them appearing to be disappointed. After a moment she unhooked the pizza bag she'd first tossed to him, pulled out the pizza box and opened it. He could see that it had anchovies on it.

She pulled off a piece and started to eat it. After a moment she looked meaningfully at him and offered him a piece. Not poisoned then. Ranma took the pro-offered piece. Anchovies weren't really his thing, but it wasn't bad. Having given him a piece, the green haired pizza girl put the pizza box down on the grass, laid down so she could look at the sky, and ignored him.

"You suck." She finally said.

"You can talk." He shot back.

She raised an eyebrow, and went back to studying the clouds.

"So what's your story?" Ranma tried to prompt her.

"Dad wanted to know why the Daikoku Group were taking such an interest in the son of a man that couldn't even feed himself." She said dismissively.

"Couldn't even feed himself?" Ranma asked.

"The way Dad tells it a starving street beggar with an infant strapped to his back showed up at the door one night looking like he hadn't eaten in a week. Dad took pity on him and gave him two pizzas, and the location of the nearest homeless shelter. He even offered to take care of you given your father clearly couldn't."

Her story was very similar to the one Kaori Daikoku and her dad had told him. The old man looked like he was on the verge of starving to death, and using the fact he was hauling an infant around to guilt people into giving him food. It was kind of lame, but he could see what the old man was trying to do. If he could just get people to give him stuff, what incentive did he have to not take advantage?

[-]

Akane jogged not wanting to tire herself out, but in a hurry to get to school so she could vent. Ranma had evaded her attempts to challenge him, and bring him to justice for his crimes. He had to know that she could take him. That she'd make him pay for he'd done to her and her family.

Akane slowed her pace as she noticed a woman with long brown hair standing in her path, looking at her over crossed arms. "Akane Tendo, I presume?"

Akane nodded. Maybe this was someone else who would join her in her righteous quest?

"Is Nabiki behind you then?" The woman asked as she looked over Akane's shoulder, not paying her any mind.

"What business do you have with my sister?" She demanded, while taking up a fighting stance.

"Nothing that concerns you. Run along now." The woman said dismissively, not even sparing her a glance.

This woman was starting to piss her off. "Who do you think you are?" She demanded.

"I'm the heir to the Daikoku Group, Kaori Daikoku." The woman said in slight annoyance, while still not bothering to even spare her a glance.

Akane grited her teeth. She was the best martial artist at Furinkan High. She singlehandedly fought entire teams of boys every morning. If this woman thought she could talk to her that way, than she was just going to need to drop her a few notches.

"Oh, there's Nabiki."

[-]

Shampoo had spent most of the night trying to figure out the layout of this place with the maps her mother had given her. She'd never been in place like this where it was a city that just went on, and on or where the buildings reached as high as some of these did. Eventually she'd just climbed a large building that looked like it'd give her a good view of the area, setup a small lean-to on the roof, and went to sleep.

She awoke to daylight that had come to early. Looking around she tried to figure out what had disturbed her, and found nothing out of place in her immediate area. The low profile lean-to was still both intact and secured. Extending her scanning pattern she spotted movement in the park below. Pulling the binoculars off her harness, she took a closer look.

The magnification wasn't high enough for her to pull out fine details, but she could make out that a figure with a long mane of black hair and one with a long mane of green hair were fighting. The green haired person was swinging a bicycle around, which the black haired one was nimbly avoiding. She blinked as she noticed the black haired one land on the bike driving it down. Shampoo put her binoculars down. There was something about that, that was oddly familiar.

Shampoo took a sip of water out of a canteen and decided it didn't matter. Neither of them had red hair and the techniques on display didn't look like anything she needed to worry about. She adjusted the flaps of the low profile lean-to to let in less light, and went back to sleep.

[-]

Ranma jumped to the side as Kumi tried that crushed peppercorn thing again. She almost gotten him the last time she'd done that, and he wasn't about to let her get that close again. Instead of following through like last time Kumi picked up her now unburdened bicycle and did something with it. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking at, but the next thing he knew Kumi had a bicycle wheel strapped to each arm, and it looked like the frame was strapped across her back.

Ranma didn't really see the point. It looked like a clumsy contraption. Confidently he rushed in to deliver a punch only for Kumi to bring a wheel into place to intercept him, and spin it up. Recognizing the danger he used his feet to bounce up giving himself enough altitude flip over, and deliver a strike down. Only he realized a second too late that didn't give himself enough room as he'd forgotten to account for how much more reach Kumi now had thanks to the tires.

Ranma grunted as he landed, his side burning from where the high speed tire had made contact. He got to his feet grudgingly having to admit he'd been wrong. Kumi strapping that thing on had made it a lot more difficult to successfully attack her, and she'd made it so she could punish his attempts to do so a lot more easily. The amount of viable openings he had, had just shrunk significantly. She'd just went from someone who could give him a decent fight, to someone he wasn't sure he could beat in a straight fight.

He however still saw one very obvious opening, that'd be difficult to exploit and a waste of time if Kumi had trained for it. If things went his way, it'd be an instant win as she'd get tangled up in her own battle bike. If they didn't he'd need to extract himself quickly, and use the environment to his advantage.

Rushing back in he made like he was going to attempt to slide into the center or bounce and attack from the top, but at the last minute he dropped, skidding towards her feet. As he'd expected she'd trained for that and started to flip into a handstand on the wheels strapped to her arms, and get her legs into a position to kick down. In the process she'd left her abdomen unprotected, and kicking up into a handstand of his own, his feet managed to make contact first.

Kumi grunted, and fell to the side. The transformed battle bike that was strapped around her absorbing some of the impact. Looking up the green haired woman regarded him as she tried to catch her breath, and bowed her head in defeat. Offering a hand, Ranma helped her up working to carefully maneuver the joints so she could do so from their currently seized up state.

[-]

Nabiki watched as Kaori casually stepped out of the way, brought her arm up, and slammed it into the back of Akane's neck as her sister committed to her attack. Against Kaori even her sister hadn't been able to slow her down. These people that Ranma was looking to fight with operated on an entirely different level. Nabiki fought to maintain her composure. The only thing protecting her now was her wit, and if she let her composure break that wasn't going to do her much good.

Out of the periphery of her vision Nabiki noticed a man behind her. Glancing in his direction to let him know she knew he was there, she saw the man had big ears. Taking a step to the side she adjusted herself so she could keep an eye on both of them. Clutching her bag protectively to her chest she touched a hidden switch.

"What do you two want?" She asked, not having to put on an act of being intimidated.

"I was curious about the boy before, but now that he's shown some legal and business sense, by pointing out the flaws in my agreement with Genma, I want him even more. I'm getting on in years. I want a worthy successor to manage the Daikoku Group and carry on the Daikoku School of Seven Lucky Gods Martial Arts." The man on her left said. The girl on her right merely smiled in a way that hinted at the threat of potential violence. Oh joy, she was getting the good cop, bad cop routine.

"So you're looking to bump me out of the competition?" Nabiki asked.

"Nothing as crude as that." The man opened a briefcase filled with bills and presented it to her. "I'd just like you to help develop Ranma's interest in my daughter, and step aside when the time comes." Having shown its contents he closed the briefcase, and Kaori idly cracked her knuckles. "Do we have a deal?"

Nabiki looked at the two of them for a minute, letting the pause hang just long enough to make them uncomfortable. "Or what? Kaori here roughs me up, and Ranma buries her in the Bay?" She said coldly. Turning to glare at Kaori she made a point to insure she had solid eye contact with the girl. "I might not be able to fight you, but he can and if do anything to me the best you can hope for is that he'll never love you."

Kaori tensed, and growled in response. Turning her attention to Kaori's father, Nabiki again made sure she had solid eye contact. "And you. What makes you think you can buy someone's love?" Nabiki grinned evilly as an idea occurred to her. "I challenge you. You built your business empire out of a chain of ramen restaurants. Next weekend I challenge you to a fight between restaurants, the one who can make the most money wins a date with Ranma."

The man blinked for a moment. "I accept. We will use my local ramen restaurant, to make things fair."

Nabiki kept her eyes on both of them, as she bent down to sling her unconscious sister's arm over her shoulder and lift her up. As she was about to walk past Kaori, Nabiki turned and regarded her coldly. "I will bury you."

[-]

Nabiki waved off the boys as she stumbled into school. She giggled nervously as the adrenaline finally gave out. She'd successfully stood up to the Daikoku's, and called them on their bluff. She only had vague ideas how she was going to follow-through on her threat, but she'd stood up them and they'd been the ones to blink. Several of the boys moved in and helped her carry her sister to the Nurse's Office.

[-]

Nabiki waited in ambush as the door slid open, and a boy with a ponytail walked through. She pounced on him, as he turned towards her. "I got you." She said happily. Everything seemed to be going her way, for once.

She leaned in and kissed Ranma, and he didn't pull away from her as their lips met for brief tender instant. Ranma looked at her for a moment. "Nabiki?" She could hear it in his tone. Her affections weren't being returned. She withdrew.

[-]

Ranma found Nabiki hiding in a corner of the roof that was invisible from the door that the stairs opened out to. She was holding her knees, and Ranma didn't need her to lift her head to confirm what she'd been doing. He sat down and rested his back against hers. He wasn't sure how to start, and so they just sat there for a few minutes with their backs pressed together.

Nabiki broke the silence. "You found me."

"You surprised me back there." Ranma responded. He wasn't quite sure what had happened that had caused her to run off.

He felt Nabiki pull away slightly. He was pretty sure she was pulling her legs into herself.

"You know Dad never stayed in any one place that long, and I always went to rough boys schools. So I'm not good at this stuff. Shampoo was my first real female friend, but that's all we were. She had no interest in girls."

He felt Nabiki shift slightly pushing back a little bit more on his back. He took that a good sign. "You're the first girl that really took an interest in me."

"But you like Ukyo more." Nabiki said.

Ranma sighed. His chest hurt, and he felt like he was being pulled to the breaking point. He hadn't been trying to create a situation like this. He didn't need that when his stomach was already squirming due to the memories that all to familiar smell was dredging up. Especially when it wasn't that long now before it would happen again. "That's not it."

He felt Nabiki turn, and turned in the same direction rewarding him with a glimpse of Nabiki's smile. Remembering what she'd done when he'd entered the classroom earlier, he turned a little more, and leaned in slightly. Nabiki's eye's twinkled as she turned slightly, and let him come to her as their lips met.

[-]


	11. Chapter 11

[-]

Nabiki felt the sting of water droplets starting to hit her. She wrapped her arms around Ranma's neck and back in case Ranma had any intentions of pulling away from her kisses. She felt Ranma start to shrink and become more curvy as the transformation occurred. Nabiki pulled Ranma closer as the change occurred getting a feel for just what it was like. Nabiki ceased her kisses to find that Ranma was blushing with a kind of stunned confused look.

Nabiki smiled and pulled the girl after her as she ducked into the stairwell. Ranma pressed her back against the wall as she looked off to the side, her cheeks still flushed an inviting pink. Nabiki could even see a pair of small bumps poking through Ranma's shirt. Ranma's hand trailed up to her lips, and as Nabiki watched Ranma furtively glance in her direction. Ranma's eyes went big and her cheeks became quite red as she noticed that her glance had been observed, and quickly returned to the safety of watching the storm outside.

Nabiki gathered Ranma up in her arms and held her tenderly. She gently traced along Ranma's jawbone as she just enjoyed the feel of their closeness. Ranma continued to look off to the side, but she could feel Ranma relax a little. Slowly Ranma turned back towards her, and she moved in for another kiss. Ranma's blush deepened, but she met her kiss. Hesitantly, tenderly their lips met again.

Nabiki felt a perverse desire to run around the school with her redhead in tow, and proclaim she liked girls so she could watch them squirm, as the kiss broke and she enjoyed the moment of being close with her girlfriend. She leaned in to sample another kiss from her blushing redhead. Ranma started to say something but Nabiki smothered it as their lips met again, and she spliced her fingers through the of ones of Ranma's hand. Nabiki spent what seemed like a long moment enjoying the feeling of closeness as they rested in each others arms enjoying the kiss.

"I think I'm falling for you." Nabiki whispered, as the kiss finally broke.

Ranma held her close, and Nabiki noticed seemed to be in a daze. She couldn't exactly blame her. It occurred to Nabiki that they'd need to be getting back to class shortly. She pulled away, having to fight herself to break the closeness they'd been sharing.

"Stay here, I'll get some hot water."

[-]

Ranma laid his back against the wall as he watched Nabiki leave. He didn't want to see her go. Desires he wasn't well acquainted with tore at him. It wasn't so much that he'd not wanted her to stop but as nice as that had been he'd wanted her to do more, even while he didn't really feel comfortable about her doing more. Such things no longer seemed to be an abstract question to be entertained during a quiet moment when we was alone.

The warm tingly sensation was back, naturally. Previously it had been a kind of pleasant, kind of weird thing that just kind of happened. Now that he had an idea what it was about, he was starting to recognize this body was different. It wasn't like his feelings for Nabiki had really changed, but what he liked or found attractive was slightly different or involved different things about her. Kissing like that when the change had occurred had made it more obvious.

Ranma sat down. He had some things to think about.

[-]

Nabiki found Ranma sitting in the stairwell studying the opposite wall. Nabiki crouched down and touched the redhead's shoulder. Ranma jumped slightly, even though she hid it well. Turning Ranma smiled at her, even as she seemed occupied in her own thoughts. Nabiki put the thermos down, and sat down next to her currently female boyfriend.

"Want to talk about it?" Nabiki offered.

Ranma colored slightly, and shook her head. Nabiki wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "We need to get to class." Nabiki prompted.

Ranma looked at her startled. Nabiki could tell she'd been occupied in thoughts on something. "We can stay like this a few more minutes. Why don't we walk home today?" She suggested.

[-]

Shampoo woke to the sound of rain. Assessing her surroundings Shampoo quickly realized that a large storm was coming in off of the bay. She quickly took down the lean-to and packed it away. It wasn't designed to put up with something like this. She needed to find some proper shelter.

She quickly assessed her four options before deciding to bounce down between this and the next tallest building. With all of the rain that had already come in it was going to be dangerously slippery. Pulling back to get a running start she made her first jump.

[-]

Nabiki changed shoes as she looked around for any sign of Ranma. The storm had yet to let up, and seemed to if anything have intensified over the past hour. She waited a few more minutes for the crowd to break as people worked up the nerve to go out into the storm with or without umbrella.

She felt a tug on her shoulder, and found Ranma standing there wearing a dark jacket that did a passable job of hiding her bust. Ranma must have picked that up off of Ukyo. Dressed like that she made for a passable redheaded pretty boy, although she was not nearly as good as Ukyo at hiding the flaws in the disguise.

Nabiki smiled. "Old school uniform?"

Ranma shrugged and gestured towards the downpour that seemed to be picking up outside the door. "I have an umbrella." Nabiki pointed out, as she slipped a collapsible umbrella out of her shoe locker.

Ranma looked at her skeptically. "You remember why we both started carrying thermoses, and refilling them at every opportunity?"

Nabiki paused as she remembered just how often Ranma seemed to get nailed with water. "It wouldn't help would it?"

Ranma pointed at an umbrella that had been bent back on itself, and Nabiki realized that Ranma was dripping water. She looked at her collapsible umbrella for a moment, and decided to just put it back in the shoe locker. She wasn't in a hurry to buy a new one, and a run in the rain would be... invigorating.

Nabiki heard someone grumbling, and looked over to see her younger sister enter the shoe locker room.

"You okay, Akane?" Ranma asked. Nabiki blinked, she'd not expected that. The two of them didn't seem to get along. Akane glared at Ranma in response to the inquiry, which Ranma just ignored.

"Kaori knocked her out this morning." Nabiki offered.

"Why'd she do that?" Ranma demanded with an edge in her voice.

"I only caught the tail end of it, so I'm not sure on all the details. From what I can tell the two of them got heated, and Akane threw the first punch probably trying to protect me. I'd rather tell you about the rest after Ukyo comes over."

Akane grumbled as she pulled out her umbrella, changed her shoes, and started to make her way for the door.

[-]

Ranma arrived at the Tendo compound soaked to the bone and shivering. Nabiki giggled as they both dripped water in the foyer, and pulled off their shoes. She'd seemed to actually enjoy plotting out a route as they dashed from cover to cover as they'd navigated their way back. Even though it was largely pointless in a storm this intense, it had been a fun exercise. Ranma shared a grin with her, it was nice to see her smile.

Kasumi walking in and handed each of them a large fluffy towel. "Dry off you two." Kasumi commanded, firmly but patiently before shooing them off to the furo changing room.

Ranma turned his back to Nabiki and selected a red one piece swimsuit with blue highlights, as he shucked clothes that had been soaked through with water. As he got ready to slip into the suit he felt his hair being let down, and a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. He stiffened slightly as he felt Nabiki's nipples press into his back.

"Why don't we go sans suits?" She suggested, giving him a little squeeze.

Ranma let her hold him for a few moments as he tried to figure out what he wanted. "Let's take a rain check." He finally got out, managing to make it sound more confident than he felt.

Nabiki pulled away, and Ranma slipped into the swimsuit. Turning he saw Nabiki flick some kind of white plastic tube into the trash. She was wearing a green and black suit this time.

[-]

Ranma realized he had slipped his hand into Nabiki's as they left the furo changing room, still wearing swimsuits. Kasumi had come by to pick up their soaking wet clothes, but hadn't left them new ones. He had a sneaking suspicion that hadn't been an oversight on Kasumi's part. Breaking the contact with Nabiki's hand he reached back and gathered his hair back up, only to have Nabiki tie it back for him.

He turned to find her smiling, and she started to do that thing where her fingers trailed along his face again. "You're being a lot more aggressive than Ukyo was, Nabiki."

Nabiki blinked, and backed off a little. Ranma smiled and relaxed a little. He started to lean in.

"It looks like you two are getting along well." Ranma looked over to find Kasumi looking at them with a big grin.

Ranma felt his color rising. Spotting an opening as Nabiki started to respond, he slipped into her arms, wrapped his arms around her back, and pulled her into a kiss. As he broke the kiss, he grinned in Kasumi's direction. "We've just been talking."

"I see." Kasumi responded with a grin.

Nabiki snaked an arm around his waist. "You see what I have to put up with Kasumi?" Nabiki commented, with her own grin.

"Hey Kasumi, when's dinner..." Soun walked into the room, stopped, and stared.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Ranma asked. "Mr. Tendo are you alright?"

Soun Tendo shook his head after a few more minutes. "Couldn't be better, son." He declared and walked away with an odd spring in his step. Ranma had an odd sense of dread. Before any of them had a chance to break the silence the phone rang, and Kasumi excused herself.

"Want to model for me?" Nabiki asked coyly, as they were left alone.

[-]

"Ukyo just called, she's not going to make it." Kasumi popped her head in to Nabiki's room to find Ranma posing suggestively in her swimsuit on Nabiki's bed while working on some homework. Nabiki in turn was sitting in her chair with a lap desk, and appeared to be switching between sketching and doing her homework. The music from some rock band that Nabiki had taken a liking to recently was playing in the background from Nabiki's boombox. It appeared that neither of them had bothered to change yet.

Kasumi smiled, the two of them seemed to be getting along very well. It was good to see Nabiki happy again, it was especially a nice turn around from this morning. Kasumi was surprised to notice that both Ranma and Nabiki looked disappointed at the news. Maybe they could all be friends.

[-]

Nabiki put down her sketchbook, there was no point waiting for Ukyo to show up. Ranma was stretched out on her bed, so she encouraged Ranma to move over a little, and propped herself up next to the redhead. The bed wasn't that large so there was only a few centimeters between them. As she settled down, she glanced over and noticed Ranma's cheeks had taken on a rosy hue. Smirking Nabiki wrapped an arm around Ranma's waist.

She explained how Kaori and her father had confronted her, and taken down Akane. She explained how Kaori had made subtly made the threat of physical violence clear, while her father had dangled the carrot. How she'd turned down their "offer" and turned the tables on them. She was feeling rather proud with herself as she moved on to talking about her challenge.

Ranma looked at her with her curiosity clearly engaged. "So what's the plan?"

"I was thinking we'd open an Okonomiyaki restaurant. There's none in the local area, and from what Ukyo said she should know some family recipes that have had previous success in a restaurant capacity. I can get my Dad to pull a few strings to get the permits, and help secure a place. We can use that money we raised from all the people coming to challenge you to cover the down payment on the place and equipment. We can contact that woman you talked about to see if she can help with decorating. I can take care of the business side, Kasumi can help cook, Akane can waitress and bounce anyone who tries to sabotage us, and you can handle the take out runs. I'm sure they'll be plenty of fights along the way to keep you occupied."

Ranma smiled. "And what if we lose?"

"If we win that should send a message for them to keep their paws off. If we lose you treat her to a polite date, and we're just back where we started with Ukyo now in a better position to help. Either way it's a win."

"Aren't you afraid Ukyo will steal me away?" Ranma asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"I'd rather it be her than them." Nabiki pulled the redhead towards her. Now that she had Ranma, she didn't have any intention of allowing anyone to take Ranma away from her.

[-]

Ranma blinked groggily, and looked around in confusion. This wasn't the guest room, it almost looked like Nabiki's room? Something squeezed him and shifted, as it made a slight moan. Wha? He groggily looked around, and started to move, but something was weighing down his right side and a good portion of his left.

"Nabiki?" He asked. The weight lying on top of him shifted a little more, and realization finally dawned on him what it was, as he started to wake up more.

"Ten more minutes, Kasumi." Nabiki grumbled groggily, as her grip tightened and she pulled him against her before settling down again with consistent pattern to her breathing.

Ranma tried to remember how he'd gotten into this situation. The last thing he'd remembered was talking with Nabiki about the details of how the restaurant was going to work, and what constituted a reasonable range for deliveries related to things like time per delivery and vulnerability to attack. Then he'd laid his head down for a second to rest his eyes, and... He must have fallen asleep. After a moment's consideration Ranma decided it didn't really matter, they were still both girls so the worst he was going to get was a lecture.

After taking a moment to figure out that Nabiki was basically sleeping on top of him with her arm wrapped around his waist, he decided he was fine where he was. He really didn't feel like moving right now, and he had some things to think about.

[-]

Author's Notes:

This ended up kind of risque, I guess. Does it count when it's not lust for lust's sake, and they may or may not have reached 1st base depending upon whose standards you're using?

After some debate it seems more natural to slice this as it's own chapter, and move properly into the next arc with the next chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

[-]

Nabiki snuggled up to a pleasant warm sensation, that smelled kind of nice, wrapping her arms tightly around it. It shifted around in her arms. Groggily Nabiki cracked open an eye, and her mind noted there was a sea of red hair before her. After a moments thought she realized she must have dozed off. She glanced over to check to the clock, and then realized that the sun was shining through the window. But she'd just closed her eyes for a minute.

Realizing that she was crushing Ranma under her, she rolled so she was on her side. "You okay?"

"You say that like you could have hurt me." Ranma sassed back, bringing a smile to Nabiki's face.

Nabiki pulled Ranma's body against hers as she debated an appropriate comeback to that. You didn't exactly just say good morning after something like that. She settled for, jokingly asking. "Are you sassing me?"

Ranma turned in her grip, so they were facing each other, grinning. Ranma's hair was a little messed up, but for the moment at least Nabiki didn't mind. She kind of liked it. "Aren't you going to sass me back?" Ranma asked hopefully.

Smirking Nabiki leaned in and stole a kiss. Ranma was starting to kiss her back when she heard the door open. She held Ranma to her as she looked at the intruder in annoyance.

"Nabiki!" Kasumi chided. "I know the two of you like each other, but you shouldn't be sleeping in the same bed."

"Nothing happened."

"Nabiki, you were making out when I walked in." Kasumi shot back. "Ranma, could you go ahead and use the furo? I need to talk with my sister, alone."

Ranma looked like she was going to object. Nabiki was flattered by the gesture, but it wasn't the time. She kissed her beautiful, sassy redhead on the cheek, and whispered that she should go. She found herself enjoying the view as Ranma left the room.

"You have it bad." Nabiki turned to see that Kasumi had pulled up a chair, and was looking at her with a pitying expression.

"Is it wrong for me to be happy?"

Kasumi slowly shook her head. "No." Nabiki waited for Kasumi to say more, but the pause dragged on to point it was becoming uncomfortable. She was just about to say something when Kasumi continued. "But I know you, and I know if you don't watch yourself you're going to chase him away."

Nabiki regarded her cautiously, her curiosity piqued. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kasumi sighed. "Nabiki, do you remember what happened when you were a kid and there was a dispute over toys?"

"Are you implying that I need to learn to share?" Nabiki asked skeptically. She didn't see how something over ten years ago was relevant in the first place, and certainly not related to this.

Kasumi rubbed her face. "You don't need to be so defensive."

"I'm not being defensive." Nabiki shot back. "Just say what you want to say instead of leading me on already."

"Fine. I'm concerned that you're going to push Ranma too fast, and are going to try to clamp down on him like you thought Ukyo was going to."

"And what do you think I should do about that?"

"Slow down, you've only been seeing each other two weeks. You don't need to be making out every opportunity you two get. Work to build your relationship on more than that, because you're going to eventually start fighting. A relationship just built on that isn't going to hold up. Also make sure you both do your own things sometimes."

[-]

Ranma spotted Ukyo pulling her shoes off in the foyer as he slid down the banister to land on the first floor. As usual she was dressed in her black sailor style boy's school uniform. He rushed over, and tackle hugged her.

"Good morning, Ukyo." Ranma declared, while holding her tightly.

Ukyo hugged him back, and leaning in sniffed. Her grip tightened. "Nabiki made her move." He could hear the heartbreak in her tone.

Ranma's eyes went big as understanding set in. "Ukyo."

He could hear her forcing herself to sound normal. "I should have known I couldn't just come in and steal you away from her."

Ranma held her tightly trying to hold her in place, trying to somehow prevent her from running away. He had the impulse to kiss her, but realized that would only make the situation worse. "I didn't want this."

"Well sugar, one of us was going to claim you eventually. We can still be friends right?" Ukyo asked hopefully.

"Of course." Ranma responded, holding her close.

[-]

Kasumi caught Ranma coming out of the furo in his orange silk shirt and blue silk pants. She spotted Ukyo waiting in the dining room, looking like she was catching up on homework while wearing her boy's uniform. The two of them were an odd bunch, but she wasn't going to complain. Nabiki seemed to get along with Ukyo well enough, and the issue with Ranma at this point was more one of preventing them from getting too close to fast.

Kasumi smiled warmly as she called out to Ranma. Both Ranma and Ukyo turned at that. "There's some things I need to give you, Ranma. Would you come up to my room?"

"Can't you just give them to me?" Ranma asked.

"Well Ukyo can come if you want, but given it's related to what's going to happen in a few days I thought you might prefer if I didn't invite everyone in."

It took a moment for realization to dawn on Ranma, but her message got through while still at least maintaining an air of being discrete. Given Ukyo looked curious, it looked like she'd succeeded in not advertizing to the entire house that she was going to give Ranma some supplies for his impending period.

[-]

Kasumi had put the various purchases in a large brown bag so Ranma could discretely take them to his room, before figuring out what to do with them from there. She currently had it stored in the large drawer of her desk, so no one would walk in and rifle through it. Sitting down at her desk, she gestured for Ranma to sit in the padded chair in the corner. It wasn't a recliner, but she made do with what she had.

"We're going to be talking about some very personal things. Nothing you say is going to leave this room, but if there's anything that makes you uncomfortable, or you don't want to talk about, you can tell me to stop at anytime. Okay?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

Kasumi smiled warmly, and pulled out a water bottle. "Now we are going to be talking about girl stuff. So before we begin I want to ask if you would be more comfortable talking about it as a girl?"

"What girl stuff?" Ranma asked cautiously. Kasumi's smile quirked.

"Periods, female hygiene, things like that."

"Periods?" Ranma asked, confused. Kasumi realized it had to be a word association issue. Given that from what Nabiki had told her Ranma had went to boys schools, and she could see him having checked out when they got around to talking about that.

"What happened about a month ago, and will happen again in a few days." She clarified, grounding it into something he should catch on to.

Ranma looked at her uncomfortably, and snatched the water bottle out of her hand. Given the circumstances Kasumi wasn't going to make an issue out of him doing that, instead of asking for it. The black haired boy was quickly replaced by a red haired girl, and Ranma made a few adjustments to her clothes so they weren't in danger of falling off.

"Why don't we start with you telling me a little bit about what happened last time."

[-]

Ranma woke up feeling sick. The water must have been bad, and he was getting the runs again. Both him and his father knew that boiling water helped with that, but you couldn't just stop and boil water everytime you wanted to have a drink and maintain any kind of reasonable training schedule. He didn't feel the need to empty his bowels or stomach yet, but something down there was clearly not right. It must be some kind of weird stomach bug.

As cramps began to sit in, Ranma decided it'd be a good idea to go ahead and start boiling some water. This was going to suck, and it'd be bad enough without trying to rehydrate himself on the same kind of tainted water that'd created the problem in the first place. Ranma crushed some tea leaves and dropped them into the water as he put the pot on. At least it'd give it some flavor.

He flinched as the cramps really began to sit in, and it felt like something was running down his leg. Damn it, this was going to suck. Hopefully whatever it was didn't involve parasites, and would just work its way through his system. Thoughts of the last time he'd had to be treated for parasites still haunted him. He glared at the Old Man who was still dozing away. He'd learned to not let the Old Man use him as food tester after that, and had made a point to look into what constituted proper food and water preparation.

After making sure the fire wasn't going to go out, Ranma decided to try to go back to sleep. At the moment that was probably the best thing he could do. It took a little bit, but he managed to doze off.

[-]

Ranma woke to find that Genma had already drank most of the tea he'd prepared, and probably was out foraging given he was no longer in camp. Knowing the Old Man he'd probably say something about needing to overcome adversity, everything being a training exercise, or some other line of bullshit he really wasn't in the mood to humor. The cramps were pretty bad. Whatever the suspect water had done to him, this was going to suck.

Ranma started to drink the remainder of the tea when a spasm from his gut hit, and he ended up splashing the tea on himself. It felt like someone had just punched him hard in the gut as the change happened. It took him a few moments to pull himself together, but he realized that the sick feeling had went away. He wasn't sure that was a good thing, especially after what the change had felt like. He had the feeling he'd done something very, very wrong with the way that had felt.

He went ahead and went over to the nearby stream, refilled the pot and put it on the fire with some more tea leaves. With a lot of trepidation he went back to the stream, and splashed himself initiating the change. It didn't quite feel the same, but like before it hit hard and that sick feeling and the cramps felt like they were worse than they'd been before. He quickly decided that whatever was going on, it was better to just go ahead and stay a girl for the moment. This was something he needed to try to sort out, and give his girl side a chance to process through. The last thing he needed to end up being truly sick when cold water found him again, like it always found a way to.

[-]

"Why are you a girl?"

"Would you rather the Amazon was chasing us around all the time, Old Man?! You know as well as I that she's around!" Ranma shot back, not feeling in the mood to put up with Genma's usual crap right now. He knew full well that it'd be at least a day before they hit a city, let alone on with a hospital or someone that could treat whatever was happening to his gut. There was no point whining about it now.

The Old Man grumbled something he didn't catch, and gave him his space.

[-]

Something didn't smell right. Ranma decided to find a secluded place and investigate. Signaling to the Old Man that he was going to take a bathroom break and catch up, he left the trail behind. Finding a secluded group of trees, he loosened the rope on his pants, and pulled them and his boxed shorts down so he could investigate. Peeking down he found a familiar red substance tricking down his leg.

Fuck. Creeping horror set in as he realized something must have happened that had damaged his insides as a girl. Maybe the change had somehow allowed the parasites to get around or something. It didn't really matter right now. What was important was that with all the cramping, pain, and the fact he was bleeding something very wrong had happened. At least it was a slow enough trickle that he didn't have to worry about bleeding out. That didn't mean he wasn't going to die out here due to some complications of whatever he'd done, the way it was feeling he needed to get to a hospital.

He was cleaning up the blood with a cloth when Shampoo landed near him, startling him. The fact she'd been able to do that so easily made it clear that he was not on his game to both of them. She greeted him, and asked him a question using words he was unfamiliar with. He really didn't feel like dealing with her right now.

Satisfied he'd dabbed away most of the blood, Ranma went ahead and just pulled his pants back up. The actual injury was internal, so there was not point trying to bandage it on the outside.

"Doctor?" He asked in broken Chinese while gesturing towards where the bleeding had come from. "Bad water, need doctor." He elaborated in Chinese that was better than it had been, but was still very broken. He wasn't in the mood to spend the time to try to make proper sentences.

Shampoo looked at him curiously, and again asked him a question using those unfamiliar words. "Don't know words." He managed, leaning his back against a nearby tree. Why'd she have to pick this point to start asking stupid questions? He needed a doctor, not an interrogation.

"Bleed between legs before?"

"No!" He shot back with more force than he'd intended.

[-]

"The bleed lasted 5 days. She cleaned me up and explained what was happening, but I didn't really believe her until the 3rd day." Ranma summarized, not wanting to into the details of what had happened during those five days. That part of the first day had been bad enough, he had not interest in sharing what had happened after.

Kasumi had patiently listened, while scribbling a few notes every now and then. Recognizing that he was finished she glanced over her notepad. "So you thought you were suffering from dysentery, and you were going to die?"

"Could die." He corrected.

"I see." Kasumi responded calmly. "That must have been hard."

That was one way to put it. That being the tip of the iceberg was more accurate.

"It's hard enough when that time comes for a girl, and no one's really there to explain things to you. For a boy I imagine it'd be even worse. I expect you were very grateful that Shampoo was there for you." Something about the way she'd said that caught his attention, but he wasn't able to parse out quite what it was.

"Yeah." That had not been a happy five days.

"I have some things for you." She opened the bottom drawer of her desk, and pulled out a brown paper bag.

[-]

Ranma clutched the bag to him as he finally left Kasumi's room. As much as he didn't want to think about its contents, he was grateful that Kasumi had purchased them for him. He wasn't sure how to take her advice about having the right to tell Nabiki no. He shelved it for later. Sliding down the bannister he spotted Ukyo talking with Nabiki.

"Nabiki I like the idea, but I never ran the cart by myself let alone a proper restaurant. The closest thing I've done to what you're talking about is running my own lunch line with a propane grill."

"If I can handle the business side of things, can you handle the cooking?"

"Sure, but with the scale you want I'd need a staff. Vetting a team, let alone the just acquiring the permits and licenses to do business in this area are going to take a lot more then a week."

"My Dad knows some people." Nabiki declared with a secretive grin, as Ranma slid in next to Ukyo and stashed his bag under the table while sharing greetings. He was pretty sure what Nabiki meant was that her dad had incriminating photos and documents, and wasn't above dangling the threat of releasing them over the heads of a few choice individuals to fast track things.

He noticed Ukyo's eyes were tracking to his chest. He glanced down, his orange silk shirt looked fine. There weren't any stains he could see. Oh right. He glanced over and tried to estimate her boob size, and whether hers were bigger. Ukyo's jacket was loose enough to hide the swell of her breasts, but it looked like they might be pushing slightly against it. The swell of her butt wasn't nearly so well hidden when she was sitting like that though.

"Do you two need a room?" Ranma's attention snapped back to find Nabiki glaring at them.

"No, I was just thinking Ukyo could really fill out a pair of tight jeans." He grinned as Nabiki's glare intensified.

"Ranma are you wearing a bra?" Ukyo asked.

Ranma felt heat rising in his cheeks. "Kasumi thought I should start getting used to wearing one, and as long as I can avoid hot water it should be fine."

What Kasumi had given him was apparently some kind of special comfort bra with padding to help with sensitive nipples, to help make his life more tolerable when it finally would happen again. It felt kind of weird, but it did help and it was rather comfortable after Kasumi had adjusted it properly. It would however be torn to shreds and have to be cut off if he got hit with hot water. He wasn't in a hurry to be put in a situation the made it almost impossible to breathe, but in the short term it was kind of nice. Hot water did have a habit of finding him when he was in his girl form, but it wasn't as aggressive as the cold water was. Still he'd need to stay on his toes.

"I like it." Ukyo smiled as she winked at him. If Nabiki wasn't there he was pretty sure she'd have pinched his butt.

He was smiling back when he felt an arm snake around his waist. "Come here." Nabiki declared while pulling him into a kiss. He put on a show of squealing as she pulled him in, but then she slipped her hand into his and started kissing him. He started to get lost in the closeness and sensation.

"Mine."

"Okay, okay. How about we go to that ice skating rink Kasumi was talking about?"

[-]


	13. Chapter 13

[-]

Shampoo spotted a familiar panda walking down the street on its hind legs while munching on a piece of bamboo. She decided to go ahead and follow it as she strategically moved from rooftop to rooftop. She was pretty sure that was the panda that followed Ranma around. That panda was the only one she'd ever seen that was so comfortable with spending extended periods standing and walking on its hind legs. She'd never really paid it much mind.

[-]

The skating rink they'd chosen was rather large. There was plenty of space for those who were following the track while listening to some popular tunes, and plenty of space in the center for those who wanted to practice a little figure skating. The food and other accommodations were rather nice, and a number of high school teams used it for practice. It was a very nice facility that clearly wasn't hurting for money.

Nabiki smiled as she held Ranma's hand as they made their way around the rink. She would have preferred him to hold her a little closer, but skating among a crowd didn't really allow that. It was nice to be with her boyfriend doing something together, even if wasn't a particularly romantic venue. Ukyo had taken the hint, and given them their space.

What Kasumi had said kept playing through her mind. She could tell that Ranma wasn't happy with what she'd done. He wasn't making a big deal out of it, but she could tell. He could be unpredictable, but he wasn't that hard to read. She needed to make up with Ukyo, and figure out how they were going to make this all work, but right now her boyfriend was on her arm, and she was going to enjoy having some time together with him.

[-]

Ukyo moved onto the rink. With the way Nabiki was acting she felt better just giving them their space right now. Seems as how Nabiki was doing her best to ensure that she was technically unattached right now, Ukyo decided she might as well pick up some companionship. Ukyo looked around as she worked her way around checking out the prospects. A girl with brown hair that fell down to her mid-back with a pink bow in her hair, and a pink dress caught her eye. The way the girl was zipping through the crowd meant that she had some training.

Ukyo decided to pursue her, and started working her way around the rink, navigating through the clusters of other people. Given they were moving in a loop, she could have just slowed down a little bit and picked up from there, but that went against the spirit of the chase. As she started to close within a quarter of the track length the girl noticed her pursuit. The girl smiled, and slowed down slightly.

Ukyo made a mental note that this one was taking an interest. She smiled confidently, and catching up blew past the girl in the pink dress before subtly slowing down a little bit to give the girl the chance to catch up. She kept an eye out to see what the girl was doing, but made sure she wasn't being too obvious about it.

She was just about to pick someone else to play with when the girl decided to catchup, putting on airs as she glided by. Ukyo went ahead and slipped in next to her.

"You seem to know how to handle yourself." Ukyo complimented. She could play it smoother, but at this point she was fine with either provoking or picking up this girl.

"You don't know who I am?" The girl asked, smiling to herself.

"Well you're certainly cute enough to be a pop idol, but I'm afraid I'm not familiar with you. I'm guessing you have your pick of the boys." Ukyo grinned at her.

The girl blushed slightly and was clearly flattered, and Ukyo had to admit she was really cute. They completed another lap before she followed up on that. "I'm Azusa Shiratori, the better half of the Golden Pair."

"Is your other half as cute as you?" Ukyo asked playfully.

"Silly, my partner is a boy." Azusa said cutely.

"A boy?" Ukyo asked in mock surprise. "What is a cute thing like you doing alone?"

Azusa looked annoyed, but her annoyance was directed elsewhere. "Mikado's picking up girls."

"Want to teach him a lesson?" Ukyo offered.

[-]

"This is stupid." Nabiki stated voicing her assessment of the plan.

"What do you think, Ranma?" Ukyo asked turning to him.

"Sounds like fun." He responded. "So which one is the main man?"

Ukyo pointed at Mikado who was currently teaching a cute little thing how to ice skate. As such things went she couldn't exactly fault the guy. Basically he was trying to pick up chicks by teaching them how to skate, and not being that successful at it all told. Sure the lesson was a decent opener, but despite having a good pretty boy thing going for him the guy didn't really have anything once he'd done that. She'd also seen enough of Azusa to see that she was the kind of high maintenance girl that demanded a lot of gifts and attention. She found herself actually kind of pitying the guy. She wouldn't want to be in a long term relationship with the girl.

Azusa's "plan" had basically amounted to making Mikado jealous, and getting some attention and trinkets in the process. She had no interest in playing to that. Her game was all about maintaining the image of being a lady killer, not wasting what remained of her inheritance on entertaining girls. So she'd come up with her own plan, and naturally she'd made Ranma part of the plan.

[-]

"You're sure about this?" Ranma asked after he'd finished adjusting his clothes following splashing himself with cold water.

"Well Nabiki's not going to do it, and I can't do it without defeating the point. Don't worry I'll save you." She reached out a hand and touched his cheek, and gently ran her fingers along his cheek as she traced his jaw. He leaned in slightly to her touch. "I can..." She stopped herself, but her caught her meaning.

He mirrored the gesture, and was rewarded with the sight of Ukyo blushing slightly as his hand trailed down her cheek. He wanted to kiss her. He held her close and rested his head on her shoulder to prevent himself from having the opportunity.

"If we don't stop Nabiki's going to be mad." Ukyo commented. Her tone however made it clear she wouldn't mind staying like this as she started gently rubbing his back.

She was testing him. "I don't think she'd object to this too much. Now if we started kissing..."

"There you two are." Ranma turned to find Nabiki striding over to the secluded spot Ukyo had found. After a moments consideration he decided to just stay where he was. If he was going to get yelled at, at least he was going to enjoy being guilty of the crime he was getting yelled at for.

He blinked as he realized that she was hugging both of them. "Okay playboy, we need to talk."

Ranma pulled away giving the two of them some space only for Nabiki to kiss Ukyo, much like she'd kissed him yesterday. He latched onto Nabiki from behind, not sure what to do with the unfamiliar well of emotions bubbling up inside. He just knew they hurt.

Nabiki reached back with one of her arms, and tried to comfort him. "This is actually kind of nice, but you see the problem right? If we're all playing for keeps then one of us has to lose. I can kind of see where Ranma was coming from with wanting to keep the stakes low, and just see where things went."

"Nabiki?" Ranma asked, still feeling very confused about what she was doing, and more than a little hurt.

Nabiki glanced back. "It hurts when you're the odd one out doesn't it?" Her tone was a balance between being reproachful and understanding. She turned back towards Ukyo who was patiently looking on. "So I'm sorry, but you see the dilemma we're in."

"Ranma could you hold her tightly around the waist for a moment?" Ukyo asked playfully. Ranma adjusted his grip, and Ukyo wrapped her arms around both of them. He could feel the Nabiki dropping some of the stiffness in her posture.

"Is this your counter offer?" Nabiki asked.

"Are you interested?" Ukyo asked in response.

"Yes." Nabiki said after a moment. "But why don't I play the bait in this crazy little scheme of yours?"

[-]

Nabiki slid in next to Mikado. "Want to teach me how to skate?"

The pretty boy glanced in her direction. "You seem to be doing just fine." He responded with cold casualness.

Nabiki's eye twitched.

[-]

"End him."

Ranma glanced over at Ukyo. Well that meant it was his turn.

[-]

He'd never really been to a place like this before today, but he had picked up a pair of skates at one point. Ukyo had told him enough to figure out the rest. As long as the skates were tied tight it really wasn't that hard to work the skates, but stopping could be another matter entirely. That appeared to be what Mikado keyed in on. From what he and Ukyo had noticed the guy basically waited for some girl to go out of control, at which point he'd catch her and start his routine from there.

That wasn't too hard to fake given he only half knew how to stop in the first place. When he came into the curve he let himself go out of control as he waved his arms about making a show out of being out of control. One of the central tenants of Anything Goes Martial Arts was faking out an opponent. Genma had made a point to teach him not just how to do things right, but how to do them wrong and what the difference was. The point of a fight wasn't to be better than someone else, it was to win the fight. The weak point in this plan was that he was wearing his orange and blue silks, which on this body did a good job of not attracting male attention.

"You okay?"

As expected, someone grabbed him and protected him from slamming into the wall, instead bringing them to a stop in the corner of the rink. "Ukyo?" He asked. He knew full well that it wasn't Ukyo.

"Who's that?" The target asked.

"My boyfriend." He responded.

"Ran are you okay?" And there she was. Nabiki had suggested they just truncate his name to Ran for the purposes of this, as it was a proper girl's name and there was no problem with needing to remember a weird alias. Ukyo hadn't objected given that had basically been her nickname for him back then anyway, and from his perspective this whole thing was just a fun little gig anyway.

"Ukyo!" He declared happily, and glided into her arms. He enjoyed the warm feeling of holding her close as she held hm close.

"Thank you for saving her." Ukyo said gratefully.

"You're a really lucky guy."

"You say that like you're having problems finding the right girl." Ranma glanced back as he held Ukyo close, curious what Mikado's response would be to Ukyo's inquiry.

Mikado was looking down, and looked kind of like a dog that someone had just kicked. Azusa was currently being occupied by Nabiki, so there wasn't an issue with him actually getting kicked at the moment. "Yeah." He said.

"Want to talk about it?" Ukyo offered.

[-]

Mikado's side of the story was a little different from Azusa's. Her story had focused on how Mikado was trying to pick up girls, and basically wasn't paying enough attention to her. Mikado told them about how he'd joined the Kolkhoz High School Freestyle Skating team. How he'd initially been enthusiastic to be paired up with the school idol. About how everyone including himself had found her cute and adorable, but then he'd actually gotten to know her. The rest basically just confirming what Ukyo already knew, that the girl was high maintenance and demanding.

From what it sounded like it was unclear whether the two of them had every actually been in a relationship, but to the extent they had, it was now on the rocks. Simply put Mikado wanted out. So he was out shopping trying to leverage his fame and looks. His big problem was he was thinking too short term, and was too desperate.

Her plan was to drive the point home by challenging him to a match where they'd compete on who could get the most phone numbers. If he won, what happened after wasn't her problem. If she won that would set things up so she could teach him some things to get him out of his rut. Both him and Azusa would be taught a lesson, and she'd get some fun out of the deal.

"Ukyo why are you talking with Mikado?" Azusa asked in apprehensive confusion. Ukyo internally cursed Nabiki for failing to keep her end of the plan. Azusa's voice took on an edge, as she noticed the redhead that was currently in her lap, and cuddling with her. "Ukyo who's this?!" Azusa hissed.

"I'm Ukyo's girlfriend, Ran." Ranma declared with a smirk.

Azusa's face went red, and she launched herself at Ranma. Given the circumstances Ukyo just moved back and gave them some space. Ranma could handle herself. Azusa was screaming and screeching while she seemed intent on trying to rip, claw, or tear anything she could get her hands on. Ranma however kept batting her hands away before she could anything. She really didn't need her help to fight her off, but Ukyo moved in to pull Azusa off her. Things were out of hand enough already without this turning into a full blown cat fight.

She was just about to intervene, when Mikado yelled at her, and threw a wild punch. "You bastard! How could you cheat on a girl like that?!" Ukyo intercepted his wild punch early, and gave him enough of a push to shove him over. She turned just in time to divert Azusa, who looked like she was ready to pounce on her and attempt the rip, claw, and tear thing on her. Thanks to diverting her, Azusa crashed into the other half of the Golden Pair.

Well that plan was shot. "Ran, you okay?" She asked, glancing in Ranma's direction while keeping an eye on the now hostile Golden Pair. Ranma shot her a thumbs up as she got up. She couldn't see an any obvious injuries. She made sure there was good spacing between them, and turned her attention back to the Golden Pair.

She was just about to entangle them with noodles, and call it a day when Mikado spoke up with something that didn't boil down to expletives about her being a cheating bastard. "We challenge you."

"What do you think, Ran-honey? Want to fight them?"

"Sounds good to me."

[-]

As per tradition having issued the challenge the Golden Pair were entitled to choose the venue and means. Unsurprisingly they chose the skating rink, and a couples battle. The form being Freestyle Skating, or as it was more commonly called Martial Arts Ice Skating. The obvious intent was that they wanted to play to their strengths, as a fight on those terms would allow them to take advantage of all of their training together. They'd made one very fundamental mistake though.

Competitive Freestyle Skating was bound by a large number of unspoken rules due to being a sport. The point was spectacle, and show you were the best and most skilled skater. That left a number of fundamental blindspots they'd never consider. Ukyo changed her load out slightly, pulling some things from the bag she'd brought for that purpose. Ranma considered borrowing some supplies from her, but decided against it. Under the circumstances it was better to stick to what he knew.

The pair had gotten it into their head that they'd be fighting at a later date. Ukyo had dissuaded them from that notion. If they wanted to pick a fight with them they were going to get a fight, and Nabiki was able to make some arrangements despite things being on short notice.

[-]

The DJ announced the Golden Pair's entrance. They'd taken the time to change into some very nice looking clothes. They gracefully glided on to the rink Mikado holding Azusa up in a pose.

Ranma looked over as Ukyo pulled out a small bag of flour. "What's that?"

"A mixture of gunpowder and flour. It makes a nice boom, and they're wearing such nice clothes it'd be a shame not to give them a proper entrance, no?"

"You got a smaller version?"

"I wasn't going to use the whole thing."

"Well carry on."

The explosion didn't go off anywhere near the Golden Pair but Mikado wasn't carrying Azusa after it went off, and Azusa was having to pick herself up off the ice.

"We're Ran and Ukyo, the Dirty Pair!" They declared in unison sliding on to the ring after they'd given some time for the audience's ears to stop ringing. Ukyo threw out another packet that just happened to detonate near the Golden Pair's head, causing them to duck. After that, and its predecessor the Golden Pair weren't off to a good start.

The strategy they'd worked out was to disrupt, divide, and conquer. From what Nabiki had gathered the pair of them relied of teamwork for their victories. As individuals they were a lot more manageable. He was faster so he was taking point.

Zipping in, Ranma threw a snare he'd prepared in advance, and snagged Azusa.

[-]

Ukyo grinned as Ranma yanked Azusa away, leaving her to square off with Mikado. He looked like he was caught between trying to race after her, and not exposing his back to the shuriken-spats sheathed on her bandoleer. Even as he turned to face her he looked uncertain.

"What's the problem? Not such a hot shot when you can't rely on the Death Blossom?"

Mikado glared at her. "My repertoire is much larger then spinning in place while attacking." He declared high handedly. She wasn't buying a word of it.

"Is that so?" She pulled the large spatula off her back, and prepared to attack.

[-]

The line went slack in his hands, and Ranma immediately dropped it and did a quick turn off to the side away from Azusa. He wasn't going to let her yank him around in return, or otherwise nail him. The snare had already served its purpose. He glanced over in time to notice her hopping along the ice, lining up for a flying kick. Given the ice skates she was wearing were basically blades strapped to the bottom of a boot, that was a more dangerous proposition than normal.

On ice, the girl was a lot faster and more agile than him at getting around. He needed to time this right, and take advantage of the fact that it was only because of the ice that she was moving around better than him. As she move in to attack, he made a point to look like he was afraid and move just uncoordinated enough to not be obvious about it.

As expected she launched into a flying kick at his head. He quickly ducked out of the way of he kick, grabbed her leg, and threw her taking advantage of the momentum she'd already built up. He smiled at successfully fending her off, and then he realized that he'd just thrown her in the direction of Mikado. Damn it.

[-]

Ukyo smiled as she dumped Mikado on his ass, again. He was starting to get sloppy, and clearly had never fought with someone that used a weapon they could use to sweep his legs out from under him. He'd tried his spin trick, but given that left him on one leg, that'd led to bad results for him. He'd tried skating around normally and attacking, but it was clear that he wasn't as practiced with that and certainly not with fighting someone like her. That wasn't stopping him from running his mouth.

Most of it was some variation on her being a bastard for cheating on Ran, how she didn't deserve a sweet girl like Ran, various expletives associated with picking up Azusa who he couldn't seem to decide if he wanted or not, and being an enemy of all women. She'd started just tuning most of it out. The guy was out to protect the honor of Azusa and Ran, not have a discussion.

She threw a packet of flour mixed with sneezing powder into his face, and slid back a little to make sure she wasn't going to be in the blast radius. He kept trying to cuss her out between sneezes, but wasn't in any condition to make a problem of himself. It was about time to finish this. She glanced over at an approaching object to see Azusa flying towards Mikado. Damn it.

Azusa used Mikado as a springboard, flipping off of him and rapidly moving in to attack. Ukyo moved to respond, only to realize a second too late that her legs were sliding in a way that wasn't helpful, because this was ice not normal ground. She was a moment too late to avoid the leg sweep, and Azusa knocked her legs out from under her dumping her on the ice. She managed to negotiate the fall well enough it didn't do any real damage, but she was in a bad position with her mobility effectively cut like this.

Ranma caught up, and was starting to help her up, when she felt someone seize her legs. "Azusa's got you now." Azusa declared cutely as they were ripped off the ice and began to spin about.

"And there it is folks, the Golden Pair's signature move the terrible couple cleaver the 'Goodbye Whirl!' " The DJ announced.

Ukyo glanced down to see that Mikado was the dynamo driving all of this. "We've broken up every couple we've fought." Yeah, yeah you're a big bad ass villain who is going to break us apart. You'll keep spinning faster and faster until the centripetal force we can exert holding each other's hand isn't enough and Ran goes flying off. And there's no way out of your brilliantly flawless plan.

"Ran, drop kick." She said, and seeing recognition appear in Ranma's eye's she took advantage of strength that a daily regimen of crunches had given her, and slammed Ranma down and waited half a beat before before using Azusa's grip on one of her legs to get enough leverage to slam the other one down towards her face.

The effects of her actions happened very quickly. As Ranma and her moved more toward the center the speed of the spin increased dramatically. As Ranma moved in and brought her feet into play Mikado discovered that being the axis of rotation wasn't a good place to avoid a blow as Ranma's kick slammed into the guy's armpit. Mikado flinched enough that he lost his grip on Azusa just shortly after her own kick had caused Azusa to lose her grip on her.

She and Ranma spun out onto the ice, and after a few vicious moments slowed to a stop. She pulled Ranma to her, and they helped each other up. She felt raw and scraped up from the ice, and a little dizzy from the spinning. It didn't look like Ranma had any real damage, and as she glanced at her arms it seemed to be the same for her. Long sleeved clothes ruled.

They managed to get back up to their feet clinging to each other for support. Looking around Ukyo saw that Azusa appeared to be buried in one of the walls, and in no condition to put up a fight. Mikado was on his hands and knees puking his guts out, and looked like he was struggling to even manage that. Ranma grabbed her hand and held it high.

"The Dirty Pair wins." The DJ announced.

"It looks like we were the ones that cleaved them apart." Ranma commented.

Smiling Ukyo leaned in for a well earned kiss.

[-]

Nabiki was counting a sheaf of bills as they approached. "That the winnings?" Ranma asked.

"Technically it's our share of the revenues associated with putting on a show using their facilities, because technically they can't pay people to fight." Nabiki said with a smile. "The Golden Pair made nationals last year, that little performance might put you two on the map." She put the money away, and with it her business like air dropped, and she hugged him warmly. "I'm glad both of you are okay."

Nabiki broke contact and gave Ukyo a hug as well, before drawing them together into a group hug. "I think I'm liking your offer, Ukyo."

"I'm glad." Ukyo responded.

Ranma looked at them questioningly, it sounded like they'd worked out details beyond group hugs were okay. After a moment he decided it didn't really matter that much. The two of them weren't fighting, nor was one of them trying to be nasty towards the other. He was going to enjoy this. There'd be plenty of time to worry about the details later.

[-]

A pretty woman that appeared to be their age with long blue hair, stopped by their little victory party. Something about her seemed off, although he couldn't quite place it. She was dressed in nice Chinese silks, and was carrying a polished staff that she was casually leaning on.

"Congratulations, Ran." The blue haired woman said slyly. "That was a nice show." Something about this was not right.

"Do I know you?" He asked cautiously.

The woman cackled like she was some kind of ancient hag. "No, but you will."

"What's that supposed to..." She was gone. Ranma looked around searching the crowd, and even checking the ceiling but the woman was just gone. She'd just disappeared right in front of them like she'd never even been there.

"That was creepy." Ukyo commented from his side. He just nodded in agreement while Nabiki paled.

[-]

"So you're Ranma's friend?"

She nodded at the girl with long hair, as she enjoyed the cup of tea that she'd been provided. These people weren't Ranma's family, but she was staying with them. She was happy that they were putting Ranma up, they seemed nice.

"Yes, my name is Shampoo."

[-]


	14. Chapter 14

[-]

"So this is the place." Nabiki announced. Ukyo looked it over. It wasn't anything extravagant, but at least on the outside it looked solid. It was a two story setup, which if it stayed true to form would have a store setup on the bottom floor, and apartments on the second floor.

Nabiki pulled out a key and unlocked the front door, opening it for them. Ukyo walked in first, the other two falling in behind her. There was a large L-shaped counter surrounded by bar seats and a bunch of booths.

"The prior owner went out of business when a Dennys moved in. There's a walk in freezer and two bedrooms upstairs, and the usual accommodations. It's kind of basic, but they're offering it at a good price. So what do you think?" Nabiki asked.

"I'm thinking we should retrofit these counters with full length grills. That way people can have their Okonomiyaki's made the way they like it in front of them, and served hot and fresh."

"That sounds like a good business plan. We can buy fresh ingredients, prep them as needed, and emphasize the strength of Okonomiyaki by streamlining making it the way they want it. Let's shelve the details on that for now. Do you think you'd get more value out of a supporting chef keeping you prepped and stocked, or serving customers in parallel with you?"

Ukyo looked at Nabiki as she considered the question. On one hand she prided herself on how fast she could make Okonomiyak, but on the other hand she knew how much time a customer could spend figuring out what they wanted. "How about a little of both? Kasumi could keep the supplies stocked, and help with prepping the Okomiyaki when we start to run heavy. Maybe Ran here could help out a little with managing the grill as well between take out runs."

Nabiki considered that for a moment. "Let's hold off making any real decision on that until we have a chance to do some dry runs. I might be able to help with some prep work, and orders while running the cash register."

"You sure you want me doing prep work?" Ranma asked.

"I'd still be the one doing the actual cooking, and making sure everything was cooked right. You'd be helping with the jobs around that, not replacing it. We still need to work out the details, but it should work out okay." Ukyo tried to clarify.

"I think I get it. So what's the capacity on this place, Nabiki?"

"Around 30 people, but we won't have a real number until after we do renovations. There's enough space out front to setup some tables with umbrellas for instance. Or we might decide to rip out all the bar stools."

Ranma nodded, and Ukyo had to admit she had some apprehension about this. The cart was designed to handle closer to five people at a time, and while working a lunch line was fast and involved a lot of customers this was a very different scale to be operating at. She found herself excited at the possibility of actually turning this into a successful restaurant, and simultaneously terrified.

"Let's check out the rooms upstairs." She suggested.

[-]

Both bedrooms were unfurnished, but had plenty of outlets and were large enough for multiple people. Nabiki told her that they were wired to modern circuit breakers, instead of a fuze box as the electrical work had been renovated recently. There was even a proper A/C unit installed on the roof, meaning she wouldn't need to rely on window hanger A/C units. Ukyo found herself smiling. Compared to her apartment, this place was huge. It had its own furo, and a place for a washer and dryer. It was... It was...

Ranma held her, and while Nabiki was keeping her distance she was looking at her warmly. She held Ran to her. It was a home.

[-]

Ranma held on to Ukyo as they made their way back to the Tendo compound. Ukyo had broken down and cried back at the restaurant, and he'd spent a lot of time comforting her. He'd eventually gathered together what had caused her to lose her composure like that. For the first time in years she had an actual home, a place to belong. Even if at this point technically it was a prospective home.

It was a nice thought and in abstract terms he could understand why she wanted it, but he had some trouble relating. The Old Man would set up shop in an area for about a year to correspond with the school year, and then it was off to somewhere else with some intense training in between. Shelter was something that protected you from the weather, and that you abandoned when it was time to move on.

Ukyo's concept of home was something he simply had no personal experience with. It was kind of like a jet fighter that could transform into a giant robot. He could understand the concept and get excited about it, but he'd never had any notion that was something he'd have anything to do with.

He gently rubbed her back trying to comfort her. Ukyo seemed happy at the moment, and was holding him a little too tight with an arm snaked around his waist. Under the circumstances he wasn't of a mind to complain. Nabiki didn't seem to mind that he had been effectively attached to Ukyo's hip since Ukyo had, had her breakdown. When he'd shot her a questioning look she'd just shrugged, and given him a look that seemed to say "better you than me."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Nabiki said as she let herself in leaving them alone in the courtyard.

"Ranma, do you think I'd make a good wife?" Ukyo asked. Her usually suave demeanor was gone and she looked less the pretty boy, and more a girl that just happened to be wearing a boy's school uniform. Ranma blinked, he really didn't have an answer to that question.

He decided to deflect. "Are you asking if I want to play the wife?" He asked playfully.

"That's not it." She drew him into a proper embrace, thankfully not holding him quite so hard.

Ranma sighed, gently holding her and feeling like he was in the wrong body to be doing this given his forehead only came up to her chin when he was like this. "Ukyo, both our mothers died in childbirth. I don't have any way to answer a question like that, but I know I do like you."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. So what would happen if we both played wife for a day?"

Ukyo swiped at him with no real intent to harm.

The door to the Tendo home slid open, and a familiar women with long purple hair poked her head out. "Ranma?"

"Shampoo?" What was she doing here?

"Shampoo sorry for interrupting." She said as her head disappeared, and the door slid closed behind her.

"Who's that?" Ukyo asked with confusion that mirrored how he felt.

"A girl I met in China."

[-]

"Shampoo glad that Ranma found a boyfriend."

She'd been avoiding tell him why she was here. Rather than her usual silks, Shampoo was dressed in some kind of black suit that looked like it was some kind of military gear. She looked like some kind of commando or something.

Ranma internally sighed, giving up and deciding to play along. "What about you? You still looking?"

Shampoo nodded. "But if you found someone this fast, there must be a lot of strong men around here." She said hopefully.

The conversation quickly turned to boys, and he quietly excused himself wandering out into the yard. Nabiki and Kasumi could talk with her about boys to their hearts content as far as he was concerned. He heard the thud of someone striking a punching bag. He wandered over to find Akane laying into a punching bag that was tied up to a large and sturdy looking tree.

"You imagining that's me or Kaori?" He asked, sitting on a nearby rock.

Akane looked over, and glared at him in scorn. "I'm just letting off some steam. Why aren't you hanging out with your Chinese girlfriend?"

"She was never my girlfriend." He commented. Akane focused her attention back on the punching bag and seemed to be trying to pretend he wasn't there. "Can I ask you a question?"

"I'm sure you'd ask anyways, even if I said no." Akane shot back.

"What's it like to have a family?"

Akane stopped, and looked at him with clear confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just what I said, what's it like to have a family?" He didn't see why there was a need to make a fuss over it. It seemed like a simple question.

"You have a mother don't you?"

"She died in childbirth, and any pictures the Old Man had were ruined by the time I was old enough to ask."

"A home?"

"Well the Old Man did occasionally get someone to give us some shelter for a school year. We even got government housing once."

She looked like someone had kicked her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" It should have been a simple question. Why did it have to turn into a game of twenty questions?

"For the way I've acted towards you." What was she being contrite about?

"Thanks, I guess." This was just getting awkward.

"I shouldn't have called you a freak."

He blinked. "You were just calling it like you saw it. It didn't looked like you were even going to say anything until suddenly everyone else decided the freak would stay." Akane flinched. "Will you stop that? You think you're the first person to say something like that?" He rolled his eyes. His father had been the one who'd originally insisted he grow his hair out into a pony tail, and half the time the alias he'd enrolled him under was a girl's name. The Old Man's reasoning being that it'd help with with training.

She was if anything acting more contrite. Ranma sighed, and bounded off.

[-]

Shampoo had been keeping an eye on Ranma since she'd excused herself. Shampoo glanced out at the yard, to see Ranma bounding off. She got up, and ran after her. Leaping the wall of the compound she saw nothing, there was no sign of the red headed girl.

"Ranma!" She yelled, looking around for any sign of the girl.

[-]

Shampoo walked back to the Tendo compound defeated. She'd searched, and she'd searched and there'd been no sign of Ranma. The girl had disappeared. She wiped away a tear. She'd come so far, and nothing seemed to be working out right.

[-]

Ukyo found Ranma hiding in the large two door armoire in the guest room they'd had their sleepover in. She quietly slipped in next to Ranma and closed the door behind her. It was a little cramped but not to the point where it was really uncomfortable.

Ranma kept looking at the opposite wall of the armoire. "They know I'm here?" She asked quietly.

Ukyo shook her head. "I just went off a hunch from when we were kids and played hide and seek."

Ukyo smiled as Ranma put her head on her shoulder. Ukyo wrapped an arm around her. Ran would talk when she was ready to.

[-]

Ukyo opened the door, stepped out, and gathered Ranma up in her arms. Ranma had dozed off, and she'd decided it would be better to put her into a futon. Ranma had earned the right to have some proper sleep today, and to not have to wake up in the morning with a stiff neck. She slid open the door with her foot, and quietly entered the hallway. She found her eyes getting drawn down to the redhead resting in her arms. Ranma seemed like she was content.

Ran was a lot lighter than she'd thought she'd be. She probably didn't even weigh 45 kilograms. With the enhanced strength her training had given her, it was no trouble to hold Ranma like this, and doing so called to mind holding something a lot smaller. Ranma had teased her but hadn't been opposed to the idea of having a family with her, and it wasn't like he didn't notice she was a girl. She made a mental note to go shopping for some tight jeans, maybe with someone along to help her pick out a good pair.

"There you are." Nabiki said from further down the hallway behind her.

Ukyo stopped, and Nabiki came up next to her. Glancing at the bundle in her arms, Nabiki smiled and quickly moved forward and selected one of the doors and slid it open. Ukyo moved up and glancing in saw it looked much like the other empty guest rooms. After a second she recognized this room as the one they'd gotten their futons from. Nabiki quietly opened the armoire, pulling out a futon before closing it again.

Ukyo followed Nabiki out, and she selected another room before laying out the futon, and holding it open so that she could lay Ranma in. They both tucked the redhead in, and when things were to both of their satisfaction they left the room. Ukyo slid the door closed behind her.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"For something like this? Don't worry about it. Did Ranma say anything?"

Ukyo shook her head. "No, she seemed kind of out of it, but she didn't say anything. What about Shampoo?"

"Well she freaked when Ranma disappeared, so I should probably mention that we've found her. She still hasn't said anything about why she's here. I think she might be waiting for a chance to talk to Ranma in private." Nabiki responded.

"Why do you think she's here?"

"I don't want to speculate at this point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it had something to do with ghost girl from earlier."

[-]

Shampoo looked up as Ranma's boyfriend, and the short haired girl came back. "Did you find her?"

"She's okay. She's sleeping in one of the guest rooms." Ranma's boyfriend said, sounding like he was trying to comfort her.

[-]

Shampoo found Ranma sleeping peacefully. Part of her wanted to just let Ranma sleep. From what the short haired girl had said Ranma had, had a hard fight today.

Ranma's eye's fluttered open and locked on to her. "Hey there."

Shampoo smiled. "Ranma seems happy here."

Ranma sat up and touched her hand. "Shampoo just tell me." Ranma responded in Chinese.

"There's an Elder hunting you." Shampoo responded in Chinese.

Ranma looked at her a moment. "Does she have blue hair, look around our age, and have a habit of cackling?"

Shampoo nodded, and put her face in her hands. She was too late, once the Elder had picked out someone to mess with she wasn't going to just give it up. All the plans her mother had talked about were effectively null and void. Ranma gave her hand a squeeze. "We can deal with this."

"Shampoo will stand by you."

"Thank you."

"Ranma shouldn't take Elder lightly. Elder is very, very dangerous, and very, very bored."

[-]

Ranma rubbed his eyes as he left his room, red hair cascading around his face. As usual he'd stripped down to an undershirt and his boxers. The disquiet he'd started feeling yesterday was still there.

Ranma picked up the phone, and pulling out the business card from the redheaded woman he'd met. He knew there was no way she could be his mother, but maybe she was his aunt or something. He dialed the number printed on it. The phone rang three times, and a groggy voice responded on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" The woman asked groggily.

"Hi, I'm the redhead you met earlier at the park."

She seemed to wake up a little. "Oh right, Ranma's girlfriend. Is he doing well?" She asked warmly.

Ranma looked at the phone for a moment. Was that what she'd thought he was? "We could use your help."

For a moment the woman's tone sounded disappointed. He suspected she'd wanted him to talk about Ranma for a while. She however quickly turned it around so that she sounded playful. "What do you need help with?"

"I have a friend that's trying to open an Okonomiyaki restaurant, and is looking for an interior decorator. Given what you said I thought you might be able to help."

"Sounds like fun."

He told her when and where to meet them.

[-]

"Good morning, Ranma. Do you want me to put some water on for you?" Kasumi asked. As usual she was up early and studying one of her medical books while enjoying a cup of tea.

"Not right now, but thanks Kasumi."

"You look like you want to ask me something." Kasumi noted.

Ranma shook his head. "Is Ukyo still here?"

"She's in the guest room you guys were in before. Did something happened between you and Akane yesterday?"

Ranma paused. "I asked her what it was like to have a family, and she just started asking me questions. She never did answer my question."

"I see. I'm not sure I can relate things to your satisfaction, but I'd be willing to try to answer your question."

[-]

Ukyo was sleeping on her stomach. It looked like she'd went to bed in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of underwear. She'd let her hair down, and it was all over the place. She looked so peaceful that he couldn't bring himself to disturb her. He laid down parallel to her studying her sleeping face.

He started to draw a little closer, and Ukyo's eye's fluttered open. She smiled. "Good morning."

"Hey there."

"You're looking kind of out of sorts this morning." Ukyo noted, propping herself up an elbow.

"Yeah, what we talked about yesterday got me thinking."

Ukyo slipped out of the futon and scooted over to him. "Do you want me to comfort you?"

He kissed her gently in response seeking solace from her lips. The disquiet didn't go away, but it lessened. Ukyo gently kissed him back and pulled him to her. Her leg bumped up against the space in between his legs, and her could feel her pressing down on the top of his leg. It felt kind of nice so he didn't think anything of it as he started to lose track of who was initiating the kisses.

[-]

Ranma stared into Ukyo's eyes as whatever had just happened subsided. "Did you like that?" Ukyo asked.

"What just happened?" He asked quietly, while Ukyo ran a hand along his face.

"Your flower just blossomed." Ukyo explained, and kissed him a lot more gently than they'd been a kissing only a few moments ago, and with a lot less grinding. She started gently running one of her hands along his back. He was feeling very close to her.

[-]

Shampoo heard some soft sounds coming from one of the rooms, as she walked past. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she went ahead and opened up the door slightly. Not seeing anything she opened the door a little more, and spotted Ranma lying with her boyfriend her red hair splayed out everywhere. It looked like both of them were wearing only a shirt and underwear, and both of them were very clearly into the kisses they were sharing.

Ranma's boyfriend caught sight of her and stopped his kisses, and placed his hand gently over Ranma's mouth. Ranma who'd clearly been enraptured with her boyfriend in turn looked over his shoulder. Spotting her the girl's eyes went big, and she hugged her boyfriend to her. She wished when she found someone their love would be half as deep as these two seemed to have.

She was just about to slide the door closed, when she took a second look and realized that Ranma's boyfriend had a butt that swelled in a way a man's shouldn't. She quickly noticed a number of other things that identified the person holding in Ranma in their arms as a woman.

"Ranma?" She squeaked.

Ranma looked at her, and looked away burying her head in Ukyo's shoulder. "I like girls."

Shampoo nodded dumbly, and walked away in a daze.

[-]

Shampoo wasn't at the table for breakfast. Given what she'd seen Ranma couldn't bring himself to blame her. He wasn't sure how to describe what they'd been doing. It wasn't like they'd taken their clothes off, and it wasn't like Ukyo had played with his breasts or anything. Most of the time one of Ukyo's hands had been spliced with his, and the other had been wrapped around his back or waist. The feeling of closeness had been like nothing he'd experienced before, and it had felt a lot better than those quiet moments in China had.

"...And Ranma really got into it." He glanced over to see Ukyo whispering in Nabiki's ear, who was nodding with a grin on her face. Noting his look, Nabiki gave him a predatory grin and he felt heat rising in his cheeks as he turned back to his food. He had a feeling that Nabiki would be cornering him later for some personal time in a secluded place.

"Ranma, do you think you could find some time to train with me later?" Ranma turned, and blinked as realization clicked it was Akane. That contrite pitying look was still there, but it didn't feel like she was going to make a big deal out of it again.

"Sure, and I'm sure Ukyo would be happy to help too." He studied her reaction, and was pleased to find that disappointment at him including Ukyo in things wasn't among the reactions he saw.

Kasumi silently observed everything, while her father was buried in his paper and his Old Man had requested his breakfast be delivered to his room. He had a sneaking suspicion that she'd been talking with Akane, and Akane's current mood and suggestion was the result of Kasumi's hand in things.

[-]

Ukyo had borrowed a nice little outfit from either Nabiki or Kasumi that didn't quite fit right, but meant that to the outward eye they were a trio of girls. Ukyo seemed to be a lot happier than normal, and wasn't holding him too tightly when the occasional hug came up. Nabiki had started playing with him again, and doing things like that little thing where she sneaked in a pinch on his posterior and played innocent. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about this situation, but so far he was liking it better than how things had been.

The red haired woman was waiting in front of the prospective location for Ukyo's restaurant, even though they were still early for the time he'd given her. "Hi there." The woman called out waving when she noticed them. After they exchanged pleasantries, the woman introduced herself as Nodoka, and asked for their names. He decided to introduce himself as Ran.

"It looks like you have some very good friends Ukyo." Nodoka responded.

Nabiki let them in, and the three of them talked business and what they wanted the place to look like. To his mind this was Ukyo's place, and he didn't really have an opinion on how it should look. He leaned his back against the wall near the entrance as he studied Nodoka, although his attention kept getting drawn to his girlfriends. Given what had happened with Ukyo this morning, and the way they'd been acting he really didn't have a better way to describe this, for the moment they were both his girlfriends.

Nabiki and Ukyo started debating something about the décor, and Nodoka came over to him leaning nearby but not right next to him on the wall. "Hey again."

Ranma looked up at the older redhead. He wasn't sure how to properly broach the subject of her being related to him, so he went with an old standby that the Old Man had taught him to do. "Did you ever meet a man named Genma Saotome?"

Nodoka's reaction was immediate, like most people who had some history with the Old Man. "Yes, why do you ask?"

Ranma looked into the blue eyes and face that had so many similarities to what he saw in the mirror, and prepared to take the proverbial short step off a cliff. "He's my father. My mother died in childbirth, but I thought you might know what she was like. That maybe you're her sister or something, and could tell me about her." He couldn't maintain eye contact, and looked off to the side.

"Well what does he say about her?"

"He doesn't. I don't even know what she looked like." The last came out more forceful than he'd intended.

He felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. "So is Ranma your brother?"

He looked up at her and saw understanding and a desire to comfort. "I'm Ranma." It just slipped out, and he hadn't realized he'd said it out loud until he started to see her react.

"He's cursed by ancient Chinese magic, cold water turns him into a girl." Ukyo called out helpfully. Apparently she and Nabiki had finished their discussion, because both of them were watching the proceedings.

Something about Nodoka's expression changed, and she knelt down slightly and studying him closely. "Ranma look at me." His eye's locked on hers. "I'm not dead."

It took him a moment to parse out what she meant by that. As realization set in hot tracks started tracing their way down his face, and wouldn't stop. She was his Mom.

[-]

Ukyo and Nabiki gave them some space, after they excused themselves to an old couch that had been left upstairs. The thing basically caved in when you sat on it, but at least it didn't collapse or smell.

"So I'm guessing one of them is your girlfriend." His Mom prompted.

He nodded, and told her about Ukyo and Nabiki. How they'd met, the weird situation they were in currently, and what had happened this morning with Ukyo. His attention was drawn to his Mom as she started laughing.

"My child would find some way to turn into a girl, and do that with another girl."

"Mom?"

His Mom looked off to the side. "You were born on a bright morning in 1971, and I met your father in 1970, but he wasn't the first person I made love with. It was the 60s, and we were having a sleepover. Someone had snuck in some alcohol, and someone else suggested we practice kissing, and I had an experience very much like you had this morning." His Mom smiled warmly. "One thing led to another and eventually my Mom caught us, and insisted I needed to find a man."

Ranma blinked. "What happened to her?"

"Oh she's quite successful now. After your father stole you from the hospital and disappeared, I got back in contact with her. She'd already found someone else, and my Mother would have been furious if we'd gotten back together anyway, but we talk sometimes."

[-]


	15. Chapter 15

[-]

His Mom waited patiently as he upended the thermos over himself. He felt the change occur as he filled out clothes that had, had to be carefully cinched so that they didn't fall off mere moments before. His Mom smiled and slowly reached out, and poked him in the shoulder.

"It looks like you've grown up into a handsome young man." She said playfully. "No wonder you have girls after you."

He wasn't sure how to take a compliment like that, given she was his Mom. "But I turn into a girl."

"Ukyo doesn't seem to mind."

"Did someone call me?" Ukyo asked as she came up the stairs.

"Ukyo." His mother said sweetly. "Ranma was telling me about you, why don't you take a seat and introduce yourself?"

Ukyo smiled at him as she sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She gave him a little tug, which he resisted, before settling down and lying against him and making a show of nibbling on his shoulder. "Mmm boyfriend."

Ranma wrapped an arm around her, and finding some areas of tension along Ukyo's spine began working on them hoping that'd encourage her to settle down. His Mother was sitting only a few centimeters away from him observing all this afterall. Ukyo moaned a little bit and let him work on her back.

"It looks like she can be a handful." His Mom commented playfully.

"You should see the way he acts when I'm the boyfriend." Ukyo commented slyly.

"Ukyo." He pulled his hand away for a moment.

Ukyo's eye's twinkled as she looked up at him. "Okay, I'll settle down." He heard the implicit 'for now' in there. He went back to working on her back.

His Mom giggled. "It looks likes you two get along."

Ranma looked between them unsure how to react. "Well I'm Ukyo Kounji, and I'm in love with your son." Ukyo declared, before leaning into him a little bit as he found a spot with a lot of tension.

"You don't seem to mind that he turns into a girl." His Mom noted, looking amused.

"Are you kidding? It's awesome. I can play the boyfriend, he can be the boyfriend, we can do something as friends, or be lesbian lovers with just a wardrobe change and a little water. You like it too Ranma, right?" Ukyo asked looking into his eyes.

The still very fresh memory of this morning came to mind. He could feel the heat in his cheeks rising at the recollection of those kisses, and the feeling her body pressing against his, and grinding. It didn't help that she was currently wearing an outfit that showed off her figure, and was wearing a skirt while sitting in his lap and pressed up against him. "Yes."

Ukyo giggled, and contentedly leaned against him. "I love you."

"I'll give you two a few minutes."

[-]

Nodoka smiled to herself. She was pretty confident that nothing too untoward was going to happen while she gave them some space, but the two of them clearly had strong feelings for each other. There'd be plenty of time to talk to her son later, given she'd be taking him home today with or without Genma's approval.

Nodoka went down the stairs to find Nabiki sitting at the base of the stairwell as she scribbled notes in a notebook she'd brought along. "So what's your side of the story?"

"That'd be telling." The short haired girl declared with a smirk. "So do you think we can pull it off?"

Nodoka giggled. These two weren't wilting violets. She found herself approving of Ranma's taste in women, both of these girls were very assertive and not above having a little fun. "Having 3 cute girls running the place is a good start."

Nabiki counted off on her fingers. "Well there's also Akane and Kasumi, and I expect Shampoo will be willing to help. So it's more going to be more like six girls, seven if you'll help us next weekend."

"What's special about next weekend?"

"We're taking on the local Daikoku group Ramen restaurant. The restaurant that makes the most money in that weekend wins. If they win Kaori gets a date with Ranma. If we win we'll take the first step to get them to stop hounding us." Nabiki smiled evilly.

"Then it shall be seven."

[-]

After a few minutes Nodoka went up the stairs with Nabiki to find, the two of them engrossed in each other while they talked quietly. She wouldn't have been surprised if the two had been doing something more physical when they'd peeked in. Ukyo smiled as she caught sight of her, and Ranma settled back on the couch, embarrassment evident for just a few moments.

"Okay, Ranma you're coming home with me tonight. As for you two I'm fine with you dating my son, but I expect a call if any of you thinks about staying the night."

[-]

Nodoka looked at the panda, who was currently playing with a beach ball. "Good morning, Husband. I have legal custody of our son, so he'll be going home with me today."

The panda that was her husband growled and made some barking noises. "I think he's trying to say he's just a panda." Ranma interpreted. The panda barked and growled more aggressively. "Come on Old Man. She's not dead, and she actually has a home we can to go back to."

The panda stood up on its hind legs and made a swiping gesture with its hands, while barking and growling. Nodoka walked up to him, strapping on her old well used gloves. She cracked her knuckles. "You want to fight it out?" She asked gamely.

The panda settled into a fighting stance clearly not intending to let her to just walk off with her son. Well if that's the way he wanted it. After sixteen years she'd been willing to make up, but if this was his response she was more than happy to oblige. Her battle aura flared, and dwarfed his as sixteen years worth of righteous anger came to the fore.

"Well he had this coming." Ranma commented from the sidelines.

[-]

Ranma watched at Akane went through some katas, and sparred with Soun, studying what she was doing and talking about it with Ukyo. He wasn't sure how to put it, given he'd never really studied the theory of battle auras, but Akane did know how to use hers. Just the only thing she seemed to be able to use it for was to enhance her strength when she was pissed off. For some reason she didn't seem to really use it to otherwise to augment her movements.

"What do you think Ukyo?"

"It looks like she has a lot of power, but not much coordination. Maybe some Tai Chi or something similar?" He could see her point. Forcing Akane to slow down and focus more on controlling her movements might help, or it might not. From his experience Battle Auras were weird things, and what Akane was doing seemed to be based around her being pissed. Practicing moving meditation could just screw her up.

"Wouldn't she have to relearn everything, and probably unlearn what she's doing now?"

"Well it looks like she's trapped in the patterns she's using now. If we're going to help her we're going to have to change something."

"Let's talk with her Dad."

[-]

Genma began to pick himself up off the ground and stopped as a wave of nausea washed over him. His wive wasn't currently anywhere in sight. He growled to himself. Nodoka had always been a handful, and he'd not been under any illusions he would have been able to get his son away from her after she'd returned from the hospital and had a chance to recover. There would have been no training trips, and she would have forced him to actually get a job.

Genma despised the idea of working for someone else, but he'd never been able to successfully run his own business. Selling koi and goldfish on the side of the street had been a brilliant idea. Everyone liked to watch fish. It was a Japanese tradition! How was he supposed to know they needed an air pump thing? And then had come that horrible day when he'd discovered no one wanted to buy the fresh carp he was selling, that had really started to smell as the day had worn on.

Nodoka had always been pressuring him to join that military combat unit she would keep talking about, that her friend knew about. Hadn't she known that the place of a martial artist was defense, not war? Besides he didn't like taking orders. He was a free spirit going his own way.

Genma blinked and looked again as he noticed a little mummy perched on a polished staff looking down at him. Had she been there a moment before? "Well... What do we have here?"

[-]

"Nabiki this isn't what I meant."

Nabiki turned towards her sister. She'd seen this coming since this morning, she was actually kind of surprised that everyone had kept mum enough to what had happened yesterday that they hadn't had this conversation last night. "I know." She responded.

Kasumi touched her face with her hand. "This is one of your plans isn't it?"

"Of course." Nabiki grinned, everything was under control.

Kasumi sighed. "Fine, it's your life Nabiki."

[-]

Shampoo sat on the roof and pulled her knees up into herself. She'd been thinking back on the time she'd spent with Ranma in China. The clues had all been there. It wasn't like the girl had ever actually expressed any interest in boys.

"Found you." A voice said playfully.

Shampoo looked over and saw Ranma sitting on the edge of the roof in her red and black silks, with her hair pulled back into its normal ponytail. She started to scoot away from the girl and then stopped herself. "Nihao Ranma." She greeted.

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

Shampoo looked over and noted that Ranma didn't seem to be moving any closer. Ranma was regarding her with a gentle understanding smile, like she was the one with a problem. Shampoo looked at her in annoyance. "Ranma pervert girl."

"Yeah, I guess I am. I didn't want to make things even more awkward when we were back in China. Thank you for being an older sister to me, it meant a lot to me."

Shampoo blinked. "You're welcome."

"I found out my mother wasn't dead today." The redhead mentioned after a pause, smiling warmly as she looked out at the horizon. Shampoo blinked. "And I get to go home."

Shampoo was struck by the wistfulness in Ranma's tone, for a home. The context of what else Ranma had said struck her. "Shampoo happy for Ranma." She wanted to say more, but even if Ranma's Chinese had been better, she didn't think she had to words to properly express herself.

"Thanks." Ranma said while smiling warmly at her. Recognizing Ranma's proclivities, she recognized the longing in Ranma's look for what it was. The girl had feelings for her. Now that she thought about it, Ranma had looked kind of like that after she'd given her the Kiss of Death. And yet she couldn't recall the girl ever making her desires known.

"Shampoo happy that Ranma has found someone."

"Ukyo's really fun. I think you'd like her. And Nabiki's weird in a good way."

Shampoo blinked. "Ranma with both?"

"It's weird and kind of hard to explain, but yeah. Sometimes I think Nabiki just wants a harem. Don't look at me like that." Ranma looked away her cheeks developing a slight blush.

"So Ranma do what she was doing this morning with Nabiki?"

"Not like that. I mean we've kissed, but that was the first time I'd ever done something like that..." Ranma's cheeks were now very close to the same shade as her hair.

Shampoo could see part of why the other girls liked Ranma so much. She was fun to tease. "Ranma looked like she was really enjoying it."

Ranma glanced at her. "Yeah. We were kissing and then it was more than kissing. I know you don't like girls, but it's really nice."

"Shampoo not interest in Ranma like that." Shampoo emphasized least the girl start getting any ideas to the contrary.

"Yeah, I know." Ranma looked away. "Given how awkward things have already gotten, I want to go ahead and clear the air about something. Have you ever heard of Jusenkyo?"

Shampoo blinked. She remembered Ranma taking a dunk in the lake during that early fight, and still being Ranma. They'd not went anywhere near Jusenkyo after that. "Ranma cursed to turn into girl?" Shampoo asked as the pieces started to fall together.

Ranma nodded.

Which meant... "Why did Ranma no tell Shampoo was boy?!" She demanded with more force than she'd intended.

Ranma glanced away. "Things were awkward enough already." Ranma turned back to her and looked her straight in the eye, while she seemed to be stumbling over her words. "And I needed you to be an older sister to me. I mean I'm Ranma Saotome, I don't back down from anything. But..." Ranma went quiet and looked away. "You were the first person to really push me in a long time. You showed me I was weak, and you showed me I could be strong. And you helped me realize it was okay to be a girl."

Shampoo blinked. She could hear it in Ranma's voice that she meant a lot to her. "Ranma comfortable being a girl?"

Ranma looked at her, and looked down. "Yes, no... I don't know. I freaked out yesterday. It'll only be a few days before _that_ happens again. I'm not sure if it's right for me to really have feelings as a girl, and acting on them unnerves me even while I crave it."

Ranma was babbling. Shampoo exhaled in exasperation, and scooting over to her friend wrapped an arm around her. "This is friendship hug."

"Thanks." Ranma said after she regained her composure.

"Now Ranma get hot water, and show Shampoo." She commanded.

Ranma looked at her perturbed. "Can't we just stay like this?"

"No, Ranma go get hot water and show Shampoo." She insisted.

[-]

Shampoo followed him down into the kitchen. Kasumi pointed him at the kettle that she'd put on for him. He locked eyes and upended the kettle on himself. Shampoo's expression changed from apprehension to joy.

He didn't find himself sharing her enthusiasm, as she walked around him very obviously checking him out. He knew where her thoughts were going he'd sat through enough of her talking about what she wanted from a man to have a pretty good idea of what all that entailed, and it wouldn't surprise him if she started pumping her fist or something. For him however it felt like everything they'd had between them was being stepped on, and thrown away. It hurt to have her acting like this towards him. He wanted his big and strong warrior woman back.

He pulled away, and started making his way to his room.

[-]

"Ranma unhappy with Shampoo?"

He whirled. "No, that's not it." He declared with more force than he'd intended. "I..."

"Ranma want to be with Shampoo as a girl." Shampoo said quietly.

He shook his head denying it. No, that couldn't be it.

"Yes you do." Shampoo insisted. "Shampoo could see it in eyes."

Ranma looked away. "What do you want from me?!" He was felt confused, and torn up while it felt like she was stepping on his heart.

He grabbed his bag, and rushed out.

[-]

Ranma listened to a tape Nabiki had loaned him as he sat on the train. Some glam rock song called Konya wa Hurricane was currently playing. It was apparently from some anime called Bubblegum Crisis, and Nabiki was really getting excited about the next episode that was going to be coming out soon called Mad Machine. His mom was sitting next to him with an arm around his shoulder. He'd splashed himself with cold water before they'd boarded so it wouldn't look stupid.

Shampoo was right, he wanted her as a girl. He didn't just want her, he wanted her to have her way with him. He recognized those dreams he'd had in China where she'd held him down and started touching him for what they were. The strong warm tingling sensation and desires he'd felt were falling into context. He'd felt similar for Ukyo when he was a girl, and Nabiki had helped to clarify a lot of what these feelings were as they'd gotten to know each other. And he knew she had no interest in doing anything of the sort.

He looked over at his Mom who looked like she was trying to get some sleep in. After a moments consideration he bumped her lightly, waking her up.

"You okay, Ranma?"

Ranma looked at her reminding himself that his Mom had, had some experience with being a girl who liked girls. He opened his mouth and stopped. "Mom this is going to sound stupid." He managed to get out.

His Mom ruffled his hair. "I'll try not to laugh."

He wasn't sure how to even try to explain this. "I really liked Shampoo back in China. I mean really liked her, but I was a girl the whole time, and I want her to love me as a girl, and it hurts that she likes me as a guy." He looked at her, looking for her judgment on him.

"I think I understand." Was his Mom's response. She didn't seem to have any problem with what he'd told her.

"Mom?!"

"Ranma you're a girl, and that means you have the feelings that come with it." His mother responded. Leaning in she whispered into his ear. "Loving a girl, when you're a girl is different. Ranma you're not just a boy, you're a lesbian."

"But.."

"Ranma my time with Akiko is some of my fondest memories. Don't worry about what you think you should be feeling. You and the person you choose to be with are the only ones whose opinions matter."

[-]

Nabiki had argued that they put up Shampoo for the moment given the girl didn't really have anywhere else to go, and they weren't exactly hurting for room. Kasumi had sided with her, and Akane and Soun had been indifferent enough to not make an issue of it. The training with Ranma and Ukyo seemed to make Akane a little more open to seeking help from others, and she'd noticed Akane seemed to be taking an interest in Shampoo along those lines.

Nabiki looked speculatively at the purple haired warrior girl as she talked with Akane about the proper way to punch. Pulling out one of her notebooks she made a note of four names, and added Priss next to the Chinese girl's name. Oh this was going to be fun.

[-]

Ranma laid in the spare futon his Mom had, had on hand in the main room of her apartment playing with his red hair. He stared at the ceiling as he thought about Ukyo, Nabiki, and Shampoo and being a lesbian. In his case the label by itself wasn't quite adequate, but it applied. And as Shampoo had effectively demonstrated, having lesbian feelings for someone didn't just translate. He wondered what it'd be like if he let Ukyo go all the way. He'd never actually stuck anything up there, he'd just rubbed at it while playing with one of his breasts a couple of times after waking up from a particularly intense dream, while imagining his hand belonged to someone else. Dreams where Shampoo held him down and started kissing and touching him.

[-]

Shampoo looked at the wall unable to go to sleep. The way the clan elders explained it, it was so simple. Find a strong man you like, be affectionate with him, and he'd love you back. They'd made it sound so simple and straightforward. She'd not been having much success with the strong man part, or the affectionate part for that matter.

"What do you want from me?!" Ranma question once more played through her mind, and once more she found she didn't really have an answer.

[-]

Ukyo wrapped her legs around her body pillow cuddling up to it, and giggled. Ranma was in love with her, and his Mom was totally cool with it. In a way they both had a Mom now. She blushed as she thought about all the dirty things they could do together.

[-]

Nabiki smiled as she worked on figuring out some designs. Maybe if they used styrofoam, and used a gloss finish? Plastic or fiberglass casts would be better, but that'd cost too much.

[-]

Ukyo answered her door to find Ranma standing there in the white Chinese shirt and black silk pants he usually wore to school. He was currently a she, and was holding one of her arms with the other one.

"Come in." she offered standing to the side to allow Ranma to enter.

Ranma nodded, and entered her small apartment. "I got nailed by water from some lady emptying a bucket when I was leaving Mom's apartment, and someone using a hose on the way here."

"Do you want me to put some water on for you?" Ranma shook her head. Ukyo smiled at her. "Well it's kind of small but feel free to make yourself at home."

Ranma looked at her as she closed the door to her apartment. "What would you do if I offered to let you have your way with me?" She asked quietly.

Walking over Ukyo tilted Ranma's chin up and stole a kiss from her. "I'd have to think about that." She said with her best confident lady killer smile.

Ranma melted and started to look at her longingly, and then quickly shook her head. "Ukyo, I'm serious. I mean if I wanted you to do something like using your tongue." Ranma glanced down meaningfully. "down there what would you think?"

"I'd like to enjoy what we did yesterday morning with you a little more, before moving on to something like that." Ukyo responded as she studied the redhead. Ukyo could see that something about this was bothering Ranma. She gathered up the girl in her arms, and kissed her on the forehead. "But if you want to, I wouldn't be opposed to eating you out."

Ranma reddened while looking her in the eye, and for a moment she thought Ranma might just ask. Instead Ranma assertively grabbed her around the waist, and leaned up on her toes to kiss her.

[-]

"Shouldn't you change?" Ukyo asked as they got off the train.

Ranma shook her head. "Not until we hit the school gate." Ranma paused. "Unless you want me to attend school as a girl." Ranma mentioned with a grin, grabbing onto her arm.

Ukyo smiled slyly. "Well you were talking about your period starting this week."

Ranma looked at her pointedly. "It's not started yet." She responded defensively.

"But it could still start today." Ukyo pointed out. Ranma blinked and looked at her, horrified. "And think of all the chaos we could cause." Ranma's look of horror turned into a grin.

[-]

"Good morning class. We have two new students with us today. Ukyo Kounji." He gestured at the pretty boy with a giant spatula on his back. What was this world coming to? That student's hair was longer then most girls, and he was carrying weapons around campus. If it hadn't been for the Principals edicts about such things he would give the little delinquent a piece of his mind.

"And Ran Saotome." He said gesturing at the bubbly redhead, who had apparently gotten the dress code mixed up, and was currently wearing a boy's uniform.

"Hi there." Ran chirped happily.

Oh, it was so nice to have a student that was actually happy to be here instead of a bunch of bored, disinterested delinquents who were sabotaging their future by not paying attention in his class! He nailed Daisuke in the head with a piece of chalk.

[-]

Ukyo followed Ranma up to Nabiki's classroom. Ranma rushed over and greeted Nabiki, introducing herself as Ran. She'd been having fun screwing with people's heads all day. She glared at a boy she caught staring at her redhead who'd been scribbling something in a notebook.

"Who is that fair visage of beauty?" The boy asked, oblivious to her glare.

"She's taken." Ukyo said for what seemed like the hundredth time today.

"Truly? By whom?"

[-]

Nabiki smiled as Ukyo began chewing out Kuno. Everything was going according to plan. Ukyo got to deal with all the flak and potential issues of being found out, while she got to play the good girl while she could just sit on the sidelines for the next week. She smiled at the currently bubbly redhead, as she started talking about her day.

[-]

Ranma spotted Shampoo hanging out near the school gate as they left school. Shampoo walked over to her, looking almost as awkward as he felt.

"Nihao Ranma." She greeted.

"Hey." He responded back, unsure what to say, if anything.

"Well this is a surprise. I'd figured you'd learned your lesson, Shampoo." Ranma quickly looked up, and spotted the blue haired woman from before, perched on her staff, so that she had a height advantage on all of them.

"Elder Cologne." Shampoo responded. Ranma was pretty sure that wasn't her name, but it sounded close enough. Besides it might annoy her.

"Well I'm glad you've met your friend again. I even brought you a present." Cologne cackled in a way that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Cologne quickly reached into a pocket and pulled out an innocuous looking plastic bag full of what looked like a bunch of little green leaf fragments. "What's that supposed to be, herbs and spices?"

Cologne just smiled, and opening the bag tossed the contents at Shampoo, who looked puzzled as flecks of green leaves landed on her and stuck. She quickly shot an inquiry at Cologne in Chinese which he parsed as, "Why you throw stuff at Shampoo?" Ranma blinked feeling off.

[-]

Ukyo stared as Ranma pounced on Shampoo knocking her to the ground, and started to rub herself all over her while purring throatily. Shampoo tried to get Ranma off her, but she just couldn't seem to dislodge the redhead. Either the constantly moving girl just wasn't there when she tried to push her off, she got no purchase as Ranma moved again, or maybe Ranma was actually overpowering her. Cackling the blue haired woman ran off. Finally throwing off her stupor as Ranma gave Shampoo's face a lick, she rushed over and attempted to pull Ranma off.

Instead of pulling Ranma off, her girlfriend proceeded to pounced on her knocking her to ground. Ranma started rubbing against her while her purring intensified, and she started making it very obvious that she expected to be petted. She started rubbing Ranma's back, which Ranma made very obvious that she was taking a liking to. Ranma started to rub up against her more aggressively, making grabbing gestures with her hands. Laughing she kissed Ranma on the lips.

"Mreow?" Ranma expressed confusion, while continuing to lay on top of her. As she looked in Ranma's eyes Ukyo could see that Ranma wasn't exactly home. Ranma licked her after a moments consideration, and then went back to rubbing up against her. Ranma started rubbing her head up against the side of her face while she continued to purr throatily. Ukyo decided that whatever this stuff was, she was buying some.

She saw Nabiki pick up the discarded bag. Sitting next to her Nabiki quietly said, "Well apparently it's catnip."

A crowd was starting to draw around, while Shampoo seemed content to keep her distance. Given Ranma didn't have any interest in letting her dislodge her, Ukyo decided she'd enjoy this and gave Ranma a lick back. Ranma smiled a very feline smile and curled up into a ball on her lap, which given Ranma wasn't the size of a housecat meant she was resting on an area just south of her breasts to her knees.

"I told you they were lesbians." Ukyo's eye twitched as the crowd started murmuring. Damn it.

[-]

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy _without fighting._"

-Sun Tzu


	16. Chapter 16

[-]

She uncurled herself and looked at the surrounding humans, before sitting back on her haunches. They all appeared to be paying attention to her. She licked the side of her paw, and started wiping the side of her head. She cocked her head slightly to the side as Ukyo sat up, and licked her on the face.

"Meow?" She inquired. Her human looked tired, and perturbed. She nuzzled up against her.

"Ran?"

"Wow, the cat girl is going for it."

"Meow?" She bumped her human.

Her human grabbed her. "Meow!" She protested, and started to struggling.

"Ran?" The sadness in her human's tone caused her to stop struggling, and let her human hold her close. She licked her human's face trying to comfort her. Her human pulled back her head and touched her lips to hers.

"They're making out!"

"This is awesome!"

"Would you perverts stop?!"

"Stop looking you fiends! Only I may be allowed to watch."

Wha? Why? Kiss. Where? Ranma felt a headache coming on. There was Ukyo. Students. Why? Kiss. Hands around waist. Hug. Ukyo's smell. Kiss.

"Ran?"

"Ukyo?" What had just happened? He brought up a hand to his head. The world felt like it was swimming.

"Ran!" Ukyo hugged him tightly. He hugged her back looking around blearily at a crowd of students that seemed to be standing around them. Okay there was a black spot in his memory after ghost girl had thrown the herbs and spices at Shampoo. He'd clearly done something while out of it, which reduced the possibilities on what had happened quite a bit. The creepy ghost girl wasn't anywhere in sight so there was that.

He worked his way back to his feet. Okay, currently female. Ukyo's clothes are messed up, and the boys are leering at both of us. He tightened his grip around Ukyo, but she seemed to have the same idea and bounced up before he had the chance.

[-]

Ranma leaned against Ukyo as they sat around the dining room table. Nabiki and Ukyo had explained that he'd been acting like a cat, and the stuff Cologne had used was catnip. That... figured. He suspected she'd done something to make the stuff more potent.

"Any idea how she knew about that?" He asked. Nabiki shook her head, Ukyo shrugged her shoulders, and Shampoo was looking down and off to the side. Probably due to what he'd apparently done to her. The Old Man had disappeared, so was the most obvious suspect.

Nabiki shook her head. "I'm not even sure what was going on. Care to explain why you were acting like a cat?"

"It's called the cat-fist. I won't go into the details of the training, but that happens." Ranma responded. Given it was just him, Ukyo, Nabiki, and Shampoo in the room, he felt safe saying that much.

"You had me worried." Ukyo said while reaching an arm around his shoulder, and giving him a squeeze.

Ranma felt himself color a little bit as she drew close. "Thanks for bringing me out of it." The possibility of not snapping back out it was the thing that scared him the most about that technique. The black spaces left in his memory during the times where he'd apparently went cat were creepy and disturbing enough.

"Shampoo going to room." Shampoo declared, standing up and walking over to the door leading to the wing of guest rooms. She closed it behind her as she left.

Ranma glanced between her and Ukyo. "I should apologize to her." As much as he wanted to thank Ukyo, that could wait. This couldn't really.

Ukyo looked like she was going to object, but instead pressed her forehead against his. "Go."

[-]

Ranma found Shampoo sitting in her room, brushing out her hair. She turned towards him, as he slid open the door. "Nihao Ranma." She responded without her usual energy or enthusiasm.

"Nihao Shampoo." He responded back, sliding the door closed behind him. "I was wondering if you'd do my hair? For old times sake."

Shampoo looked at him for a moment and gestured him over to sit in front of her so that she could brush out his red hair. He felt her undo the piece of cord that was holding it back in a ponytail, and begin to gently brush it out. She was better at managing the snags than he was and managed to actually make the experience pleasant.

"I'm sorry about what happened." From what Nabiki and Ukyo had told him he'd ended up rubbing himself all over her, and naturally had freaked her out in the process.

"Ranma wasn't herself."

"No, I wasn't." Ranma covertly hugged herself.

He felt the comb being put away, and Shampoo's hands started to work in on his shoulders and neck. He let her move him as she needed. He blinked and looked back at her as her hands stopped.

"Ranma take off shirt."

"Shampoo?" He asked looking at her questioningly.

"Shirt bunching up and getting in away. Easier if just undershirt." Oh, that's why.

He went ahead and undid the buttons, before peeling off his white Chinese silk shirt, leaving just a black sleeveless undershirt covering his torso. Shampoo started working on his shoulders again, and began working her way down his back tracing along his spine. He shivered, and moaned a little bit as she started working on a particularly tense cluster bringing that familiar pleasant burning sensation as she worked.

"Ranma okay?" Shampoo asked as she began working on his back in earnest.

"Yeah, keep going." After a few moments she gave him a light push encouraging him to lie on his stomach. He went ahead and laid down, and let her straddle his lower back. She hadn't usually went this far, especially without demanding he return the favor. Still it wasn't like she was actually going to do anything, he reminded himself as he laid his head to the side.

"Don't you want me to work on you?" He asked as she started to press deeper.

"Ranma can't run away from Shampoo like this." She responded slyly, seeming to have gotten her energy back. This was the Shampoo he remembered. He smiled.

"I guess, but what would you do if I actually let you catch me?" He shot back.

"Would boy-type Ranma like Shampoo, if Shampoo like girl-type Ranma?" He could hear the hurt in her voice. He'd accepted it wasn't going to work over a month ago back in China. Still... he kind of liked that she was taking an interest even though he knew it couldn't work.

"Shampoo?" He could tell her offer, if such a thing could be even characterized in such terms, was genuine.

She ran a hand along his spine. "Kiss and things happen, right?" She asked her voice trailing off, and hand moved to drawing doodles on his back.

"Shampoo... don't." Ranma pulled himself forward and slipped out from under her. Turning to face her, he recognized she was starting to get distraught. From the time he'd spent with her in China he had a pretty good idea what she wanted, and that wasn't him. At least not since he'd taken a dip in that pool. He hugged her, and said words that he'd said in some variation many times before to her after her escapades. "I'm sure you'll find someone."

"Shampoo want Ranma." She insisted.

"Sha..." She smothered his objection with a kiss. He could tell she was just going through the motions. He tilted his head and looked incredulously at her as she broke her kiss.

"Shampoo keep kissing Ranma, until Ranma agree to take Shampoo on date." She declared.

"Oh?" He asked dodging her attempted kiss. "And what do you want to do on a date?"

"Kasumi said boy plan date." Shampoo shot back, starting to get frustrated at him avoiding her attempted kisses.

"Oh?" He dodged another of her attempted kisses, and kissed her as she started to line up. Shampoo was passive to his kiss, but didn't try to pull away. As he broke the kiss she looked at him in surprise with a kind of dazed happy expression. "Opening." Ranma declared as he launched into a tickle attack, tickling her under her armpits.

[-]

Ranma slid open the door and dashed out, strategically bouncing his way down the hall. Ranma stopped and blinked as he saw that neither Ukyo or Nabiki were at the dining room table. Instead Kasumi had her books spread out over the table.

"Where's Ukyo and Nabiki?"

Kasumi looked up at him. "They're off overseeing the renovations to Ukyo's place."

"But..."

"They thought you and Shampoo might need some time given what happened."

Oh right, he'd forgotten about her for a moment. He glanced down the hall a second too late as she slammed into him. As his side hit the ground he started to roll, only to have Shampoo press him down. His back was pressed against the floor as she landed on top of him.

"Shampoo caught you." Shampoo declared. She way lying on top of him, so her body was pressed against his as she held him down. He could feel her breasts pushing into him. His girly bits were tingling strongly for her, and he could feel a warmth blooming through him.

"Shampoo, what are you doing?" Kasumi asked, her pleasant tone lined with steel. Ranma felt disappointed as he realized what was going to happen next. He stealthily wrapped his legs around hers in a way it wasn't obvious what he was doing. Shampoo couldn't exactly bend back on her spine, so if her trapped her legs against his and pulled her pelvis against his she couldn't sit up. Add in a little ineffectual struggling, and it'd look like she was the one keeping him in place instead of the other way around.

"Shampoo playing with Ranma." Shampoo responded, putting on a cute act.

"Yeah, we're just playing." He agreed.

Kasumi looked at the two suspiciously. "Why don't you two go help out Ukyo and Nabiki then?"

[-]

Ryouga looked up from the newspaper he was holding. He checked the name of the park listed in the ad. He was finally here! Ryouga looked out at peaceful park with children running around, and no sign of Ranma. He checked the date on the ad. Wait... What day was it?

He pointed at a middle school kid. "Hey kid! What day is it?"

"Monday, August 24th."

That meant that it'd been... two weeks? "Curse you Saotome! How could you run away from our honorable fight?! It's only been two weeks!"

"Mommy, he's scaring me."

"Don't worry we'll call the police at the nearest pay phone, and they'll take him somewhere he can get better."

He would have his revenge!

A familiar voice yelled a familiar phrase in Chinese. It was to his eternal regret he'd never learned a word of Chinese. Ryouga turned towards the familiar voice. That redhead girl from China was bounding towards him, followed by the purple haired girl.

"Hi..." Oh, what should he say? Sure she'd knocked him into that cursed pool, but she was really cute. The few times he'd managed to run into her after that the purple haired girl had been so busy chasing her that he'd never had a chance to talk with her. He doubted she'd even recognized his existence.

He took a step back as she landed near him. The two Chinese girls chattered at each other in Chinese. He could of sworn her heard one of them say something that sounded kind of like "Ranma", but that was stupid. Ranma wasn't here. He'd run away from their honorable manly fight again. These two visions of loveliness had nothing to do with that.

He watched them bound off. His heart once more raised from the depths of depression he took a step forward, and completely missed there wasn't a piece of land to put his foot onto. He pinwheeled his arms and and struggled to try to regain his footing only to have his foot still in contact with solid ground slide as a result, and dump him into the pond. He furiously worked his now little limbs, and broke the surface.

"Bwee!" He screamed at the heavens.

"Ma'am, where is this suspicious person?"

"I don't know. He just disappeared officer. He was right here just a moment ago."

[-]

Ranma bounced up to the wall right above the door to Ukyo's place, and perched there a brief instant to slide open the door. He bounced down into a handstand, flipped with a midair twist to land back on his feet facing the entrance and rushed over to Ukyo latching on to her. Nabiki and his Mom were talking with a guy wearing a hardhat in working coveralls, as a bunch of guys worked on various things. He had to give Nabiki's Dad credit, the pace with which he was getting things greenlighted was bordering on absurd. Even the power and water had already been turned on given the lights were on and one of the faucets was running.

Ukyo chuckled as he snuggled up to her. "Did you miss me?" He asked before sticking his tongue out at Shampoo who'd finally caught up.

"It looks like you two have been up to something." Ukyo noted.

"Just playing." Shampoo stated. "No need for Ukyo to get upset."

"I see." She turned to him. "And what's your side of this story?"

"We talked while she brushed my hair, I tickle attacked her, and we've been playing chase me."

"Oh, and why do you smell like her?" Ukyo asked, with a slight threatening edge in her voice.

"She caught me a few times." He explained.

Ukyo gave him a suspicious look, and looked like she was about to say something when his Mom called her over. He decided to move next to Nabiki.

"So how are things going?"

"Dad got the deal closed yesterday. They certified and got the utilities back up this morning. They've done most of the painting, and they should finish fitting the grills in this evening. And Ukyo was talking about you helping her move in tonight."

"And how are things going with you?" He asked.

"Good." Nabiki responded with a smile. "I get you next week."

"Oh? Is that what you two decided?"

"For the moment anyways." Nabiki responded slyly.

"I see how it is. I made out with you when it was your time of the month, but you don't want to be anywhere near me when it's mine." He declared in mock accusation, mainly just curious what kind of rise that'd get out of her.

Her response was to kiss him. He was just about to kiss her back when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. "Ukyo?" He asked.

"I'd like to talk to you upstairs."

[-]

Ukyo lead him to one of the rooms upstairs and closed the door behind them. He looked at Ukyo curiously trying to figure out what her intent was. The displeasure and recrimination was clear in her eyes. If he had to guess a reason it was that he'd been paying attention to other girls.

Ukyo drew him into an embrace where they were slightly off center with each other, and slipped her in between his. His own leg naturally slipped between hers in the process, but didn't make contact with the space between her legs due to the height difference. She just quietly looked at him for a few minutes while her hands drifted down to and started playing with his butt.

"This is about Shampoo and Nabiki isn't it?"

Ukyo just nodded while continuing to look at him. He could see her hurt and displeasure, and her continued silence was starting to unnerve him and make him antsy. He was just about to say something when her hand landed across his bottom, and he yelped in surprise. The area she'd hit stung slightly, but she'd really not hit him that hard. He could feel a little heat where she'd struck. It also made him start squirming on her leg, leading to other things happening.

"Ukyo?" He asked as she started to gently caress his rump where she'd struck it moments before. Her expression softened slightly, and then her hand landed across him bottom again.

[-]

Ranma held Ukyo close as he lay next to her in Ukyo's arms, his breasts touching hers through their clothes. She'd "punished" him for quite a while before she'd relented, and started making out with him. His rump still stung a bit from her strikes, but it wasn't really an unpleasant sensation or anything that was going to last. He was still trying to make sense of the experience as he lay in her arms. If anything he wanted her to spank him more.

"Ranma, just because I'm willing to share you with Nabiki doesn't mean I'm okay with you cheating on me." She kissed him on the forehead, and held him close to her.

He'd gotten her point. She wanted him to be hers. She'd found an unusual way to make the point, but he'd gotten it. "Shampoo tried to bargain for a date, but I didn't really let her do anything."

Ukyo regarded him critically, while one of her hands trailed down and started playing with his rump. "Nothing else?"

Ranma wiggled his butt suggestively. "Spank me more, and I'll tell you."

"You are such a perv." Ukyo recriminated him, before kissing him on the lips.

"Yeah, but I'm your perv." He declared as she broke the kiss.

[-]

Ranna squealed happily as Ukyo gathered up Ranma in her arms, who kissed and happily snuggled up to her. Ranma had coaxed her into spanking her for being a "dirty girl" and if anything had been even more enthusiastic when they'd made up than before. Misses Saotome had been right. She'd been reticent about doing something like that, but it'd all turned out okay. She didn't feel angry anymore, she felt she'd made her point, and if anything she seemed to be on better terms with Ranma.

"Okay, let me down." She let Ranma down, and Ranma proceeded to pull away to just out of reach while smiling at her. "Thank you."

Ukyo looked at her questioningly, not understanding what she was on about. "For what?"

Ranma colored slightly. "For being you." She knew Ranma well enough to recognize she was saying that to cover for something else. Ukyo decided after a moment the particulars didn't matter.

[-]

Author's Notes:

One can only imagine what would happen if Nodoka made a suggestion like that in canon, to Akane. Also, Ryouga's finally wandered into the area. Maybe he'll show up again some time soon.


	17. Chapter 17

[-]

"You're sure?"

"It's better to go ahead and test this, when you're here to bring me out of it." Ranma responded, matter of factly. "Even if no one figured it out, someone's going to try it eventually."

Ukyo looked at the small canister of dried catnip they'd purchased from a pet store during the final trip from her apartment. They'd aleady finished moving in what few possessions she had. Ranma had suggested they get some and see what it did, but while Ranma hid it well she knew him well enough to have recognized that he was scared. When she'd asked him about it after they'd gotten home, she'd been able to coax him into telling her that they only reason he knew about going cat, was because other people told him about it afterwards. He'd then went quiet, and emphasized that she needed to bring him out of it if he went cat again.

In preparation of actually doing this, Ranma had went ahead and transformed herself into Ran, and stripping down to her underclothes and sitting in her lap. Ukyo had decided to strip down to a black sports bra and panties, so they basically matched. She could tell from the slight stiffness in Ranma's posture she was terrified, even if she was keeping it out or her voice. Ukyo also knew Ranma well enough to recognize trying to comfort her about this wouldn't be appreciated. Ranma had psyched herself up to do this, and it was time to pull the trigger.

She went ahead and popped the top, sprinkling some dried catnip fragments on Ranma's shirt before quickly recapping and placing the canister behind her. The effect took a second, but it was pronounced. The stiffness in Ranma's posture disappeared as she started rubbing her back against her. Ukyo nuzzled Ranma's neck a little to get her attention, only to have Ranma turn around in her grip. As Ranma ground against her, she could see that it was still Ranma, but she was kind of out of it.

She reached in and gave Ranma's breast a little squeeze. Ranma moaned and squirmed in response, but she got her redhead's attention. "How you feeling?"

"Aroused, very aroused, but it's weird..." Ranma trailed off while snuggling up to her a lot more than she usually did. Ranma licked her face as she held Ranma comfortingly and tried to parse out what the ramifications were. She glanced down to find Ranma looking at her in embarrassment. Ukyo giggled, and after a moment Ranma joined her.

"I think we'll be okay. This stuff isn't that potent. It messes with me, but I'm still me." Ranma said after their giggling died down.

"Which probably means that warrior woman elder knows how to process it for maximum potency. Something like distilled shochu, instead of sake." Ukyo responded. Ukyo glanced down as Ranma grabbed her hand, and pressed it against Ranma's breast. She started gently playing with it. "You like this?"

Ranma nodded, while clearly mostly focusing on enjoying her touch as her eyes slipped half closed. "I didn't say you could stop."

[-]

"Okay, so like we talked about yesterday, we've been found out. There's no point trying to hide, because the cat is out of the bag. So we should just go all in as being out." Ranma summed up, struggling to try to get the closure thing on the back of the bra hooked.

"Let me help you." Ukyo offered, taking the straps away from his hands and hooking it on the second try.

Ranma looked down at the simple white female underwear he was currently wearing. Again reminded how much better it felt on his body than a sleeveless shirt and a pair of boxers that were almost falling off and liked to ride up in ways that weren't comfortable with what was currently between his legs. These things actually fit this body, which also meant that the best possible result of his encountering hot water while wearing these was that they'd break. The worst case was they wouldn't when he went from the top of his head being level with Ukyo's chin to the reverse.

Ukyo was wearing a fresh black sports bra and a fresh pair of black cotton panties currently. Nabiki had offered to lend them some dress code compliant dresses, but Ukyo had agreed with him that wasn't subversive enough. They'd decided to both follow the boy dress code of black slacks and white button down shirt. He with one of his silk shirts, her with a more conventional white button down shirt. No one was going to mistake them for guys. To drive the point home though they'd both decided to drop their normal understated means of holding their hair back, and instead go with very obvious colored bows. Ranma had went with blue for good contrast, and Ukyo had chosen a red one.

They started finishing up adding a few extra things. This was going to be awesome.

[-]

Ran stopped as she noticed a crowd that appeared to be waiting for them beyond the gate. It was a Tuesday, so they weren't Akane's suitors, unless they were off schedule. That'd been a stronger response than she'd expected. She made a show of clinging to Ukyo, and acting scared. Not that she needed much excuse to cuddle with her girlfriend.

Kuno walked up to the front of the crowd dressed in traditional Japanese clothes, and pointed a bokken at them. Okay... What was he doing here? "I am the great Tatewaki Kuno, the rising star in Kendo world. The Flaming Comet."

Well that was a new one. He'd been calling himself "Blue Thunder" recently. Of course, about a dozen variants on that related to flatulence had circulated and become his unofficial nickname. Although Blue Blunder had enough of a ring to it that it had seemed to become the favorite. So it wasn't surprising that he'd changed it again. Ran gave this one a day. At best Kuno was going to get away with just being called the Flailing Comet after setting himself up like that.

"We're the Dirty Pair." Ukyo shot back, pointing at the scarves they'd tied to their upper arms, that matched the colors of the respective bows tied in their hair. "We defeated the Golden Pair, and we'll defeat you."

"Dirty Pair?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that. They were lesbians?"

"I guess they are a pair of Lovely Angels."

"Does this mean the school is going to blow up?"

"No, no they'd have to help somebody, and it'd not be their fault."

"Silence fools!" Kuno yelled in annoyance at the crowd's murmurings. "You, foul sorceress, release this fair maiden from your vile spell."

"Ukyo do you have any idea what he's talking about? Because I'm lost." Ran asked.

"Sugar, I'm not even sure he's talking to us."

"Do you take me for a fool? You've worked your foul magics to make this girl your pet. To coax her into an unnatural union." Kuno declared in a tone that seemed to convey that he at least thought he knew what he was talking about. As far as Ran could tell he was the only one.

"I think he's objecting to us liking each other." Ran noted. "What do you think Ukyo?"

"I think he's doing a perfect job of making a fool of himself without us."

Kuno's face colored with rage. "Fiend!" He charged, and Ukyo threw a bag of flour in his face for the trouble. The entire area was engulfed in white powder as they shifted out of the way, her moving left and Ukyo moving right. Several large ethereal crescents blasted through the cloud of flour, and slammed into the wall of a residence opposing the school entrance, reducing the effected section to rubble.

Ran made a mental note to reassess Kuno's threat level; below and easily defeated by Akane wasn't accurate. She wasn't sure how flexible Kuno was, but he'd just done a rather high level trick with that bokken. Given what Nabiki said her suspicion was this was one very high blip, in an otherwise unimpressive fighter. Once she got a good look at what he was actually doing she could probably piece together what was going on, because someone who couldn't make nationals, but could do that didn't add up with a properly balanced fighter.

Kuno dashed out of the flour cloud, and just managed to avoid slamming into another part of the wall he'd partially demolished. Kuno's physical coordination appeared to be decent, but nothing special. Okay, that was the first red flag that whatever he'd done with that bokken was a blip technique. A very dangerous blip technique, but a blip technique. That tended to mean he'd trained really hard in a single mode.

Kuno looking between them noting that they were on opposite sides of him. For whatever reason the goofball thought he was safe with his back to her, as he turned towards Ukyo and started going through what looked like a faster and more forceful version of the usual bokken sword strikes practice patterns. Ukyo moved out of the way, and a lamp post behind her got mauled. Well that was the blip technique then, and Ran had to admit it fit. The buffoon had clearly spent some serious time on practicing those patterns, and this was the result. Something that was rather impressive, as long as Kuno didn't get disrupted, but probably had no flexibility.

As fun a fighting a blip fighter like this could be, Kuno seemed only have intent on attacking Ukyo. So Ran found she really didn't have anything in the way of regrets as her leap sent her close enough that she could slam her foot into the back of Kuno's head, causing him to crumple and drop like a bag of flour.

[-]

He looked at his new students as he got him materials together to start the lesson. The boy with the giant spatula strapped to his back with a bandolier of mini-spatulas, was actually a girl. According to the chatter in the staff room, apparently she and the redhead were a couple and the redhead had been acting like a cat. There'd been a lot of jokes about her being a cat girl going around, but he didn't put much stock in it. The redhead had probably just worn a pair of cat ears or something similar and shared a hug with the other girl, which the rumor mill had blown it out of proportion. The two were clearly close, but that didn't mean they were a couple.

[-]

Akane glared at Ranma. What did he think he was doing? It was bad enough that he was coming to school as a girl, but he... she and Ukyo were flagrantly cross dressing. And it seemed like all the boys were ogling the pair of them, while all the boys had been ignoring** her** all day. Who did they think they were?!

[-]

Ran smiled. The girls were clearly uneasy around them, but the boys seemed more than happy to partake of their lunch line. Especially with her waitressing so Ukyo could focus on just making them quickly and efficiently. The disciplinary committee was sitting in on their lunch line, watching the pair of them like a cast of hawks. If it hadn't been for that she might had shared some "public displays of affection" with Ukyo. On the upside with the disciplinary committee sitting in no boys had touched her butt, and it wasn't like they could really stop her from having some moments with Ukyo.

"Here you go, Nabiki." Ran said happily, while placing an Okonomiyaki special down in front of her.

Nabiki took a bite. "Wow. This is really good. You two should open a restaurant." Nabiki blinked, and looked up. "Come to think of it, it'd be a great dating spot if you did. Given you two have no interest in boys, and thus I wouldn't have to worry about you stealing my boyfriend." Nabiki said just loud enough for her voice to carry without being obvious.

Ran could almost see the little gears turning in the minds of the girls that'd been hovering around them. Oddly the boys didn't seem dissuaded though. It was just as well, given what the plan called for.

"Vile sorcerous!" Oh, him.

"Would you like something, Kuno? Our selection is a little limited right now, but we'll try to make your Okonomiyaki to order." Ranma asked cheerfully.

"My redheaded goddess, has that vile sorceress done anything to you?"

Ran wanted to discreetly move away from him, but she kind of had a job to do. "No, nothing like that." Damn disciplinary committee. "Ukyo just wanted to share her cooking with the school." And make some money.

"Tell me fiery haired one, is this part of some plot to make all the girls in the school her thralls?"

Ran gave him a forced smile. "Ran doesn't understand."

"Is she trying to make the other girls fall under her spell, like she hast done unto you?" Kuno responded back, all fired up.

"Kuno, Ukyo loves me." Ran said simply, not wanting to engage his madness. "So would you like a Okonomiyaki? They're really good." She proposed cheerfully.

"A noble samurai would never eat something prepared by that vile sorceress." Kuno declared decisively, while posing as some kind of bastion of decisiveness from which he wouldn't budge. It was all very overdone.

"Oh." Ran made a point to pout.

Ran blinked as Kuno put two 500 yen coins on her tray,. "A deluxe, fair one." He declared confidently, like he hadn't made that declaration mere moments before. Whatever.

[-]

Akane was enjoying a sit and bitch with her friends Sayuri and Yuka, as they ate their lunch. "Can you believe those two?"

"Oh come on, Akane." Sayuri responded. "You were always bitching that Nabiki was weird and probably liked girls, and now that there actually are lesbians on campus you can't stop talking about them. Come to think of it you're a second year, but you've never dated anyone."

"Is there something you'd like to tell us, Akane?" Yuka added.

Akane rolled her eyes. "As if. I'm not a pervert like them. Have you seen the way Kuno acts?"

[-]

Ran waved goodbye to the students making their way back, as Ukyo worked on cleaning her portable grill. Once the last of them were far away enough there was no reasonable social obligation to wave, she rushed over and helped with packing it up. Given the disciplinary committee had also left, after the finished packing things up, Ran slipped into her girlfriend's arms.

"Is it bad that I've been wanting this all day?" Ran asked.

Ukyo's response was to lean in for a kiss.

"It would appear I miscalculated. Shampoo didn't indicate you had a taste in women. Now this is an interesting development."

Ranma looked over in annoyance at the blue haired Chinese woman. "Hey there, Baba Yaga. What's with the staff, forget your mortar?" He had to credit Nabiki with that one. The girl knew her stuff.

The woman despite appearing to be their age cackled like an ancient hag worthy of the name. "You're too kind."

"So what, you pumped my Old Man until he told you about the Cat-fist?"

The woman started cackling again. "Oh, to be so young and foolish. No, boy. The only thing I wanted to know from your father about that was the particulars of how he'd trained you. He didn't come up with the technique, and you probably won't be the last to be trained in it." The woman started cackling again. He was just about to interrupt her when she spoke again. "That you'd even bother to ask such a question means I know more about your little issue than you do, boy."

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he glared at her. "What that's supposed to mean?"

"You walk fences, habitually sun yourself on roofs, and a dozen other things and you ask me that?" The woman smirked. "Are you a human that pretends to be a cat, or a cat pretending it's human?"

Ranma pulled away from Ukyo and moved towards the blue haired woman only to find himself surrounded by a circle of like a dozen of her. His follow up strike established that the one that'd been where the visible talking one was, was just an illusion.

"Can you figure out which one is the real one, boy?" She challenged.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because one of you has to be the real one, right? Ukyo, a wheezing wendy please."

Ukyo's flour bag mixed with sneezing powder doused the area, but beyond his own sneezes there was nothing. He bounced out of it, and spotted Cologne crouched in a tree. "There you are."

The woman dodged his strike by such a wide margin that he might as well have been throwing a kick in the opposite direction. Damn, she was fast. He launched himself after her, but she was making him feel like some kind of rank amateurs that couldn't even use their battle aura, versus well... him. How was she doing that? It was hard enough for him to find someone who could give him a decent fight these days. Even with Ukyo joining in, this woman was making their attempts to attack her look farcical.

All the while the woman just kept cackling.

[-]

Ukyo leaned on her giant spatula, and Ranma had to stop and catch his breath. Looking around he realized that the woman had slipped away at some point. There were shuriken spatulas all over the place, embedded in trees and the ground. Nothing they'd tried had gotten anywhere near Cologne.

[-]

Ran stared as she opened her shoe box to find it full of letters. She blinked in non-comprehension, and looked over to Ukyo who had some letters of her own, but not as many as her.

"What are these supposed to be? Challenge letters?"

Ukyo started giggling.

"What?"

Ukyo grinned while waving her off. "I think they're love letters."

Ran went ahead and picking one at random, and opened it. Glancing over it she found it contained a very detailed steamy account of a girl's desires to do things to her. Ran went ahead and put it away, before gathering the bundle of envelopes into her bag. At least it would be fun to read them with Ukyo.

"It looks like you two are popular." Nabiki noted. As she walked past she leaned in for a second, and whispered. "I'll meet you later at Ukyo's place." Sneaking a pinch in on her butt, before walking off innocently.

[-]

Shampoo met them at the gate, but thankfully this time Baba Yaga didn't decide to crash the party. Ranma hugged her in greeting, while he could feel Ukyo getting jealous behind his back. He wiggled his ample female rump at her.

"You feeling okay?" He asked Shampoo. She looked like she was having a hard time of it. He held her tenderly, and ran his hand along her back. Shampoo colored slightly, but didn't appear to feel like talking about what was bothering her. After a moment Ranma broke the hug, and grabbed both Shampoo's and Ukyo's hand.

[-]

Ranma looked between the two girls that were on either side of him. Ukyo was unhappy because Shampoo was here. Shampoo seemed to be occupied in her own thoughts, but seemed better than she'd been earlier. The holding hands thing had broken down at about half a kilometer from the school. If that wasn't enough the cicadas were buzzing away. This sucked.

Ranma decided to start on Ukyo. "Hey Ukyo, you remember how you and Nabiki were fighting over me?"

Ukyo looked at him, and he could tell she recognized where he was going with this. She didn't look happy with the prospect. "You want her in?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not like that. I want to you to recognize that she's my friend, and that I can be affectionate with a friend."

"I don't think she's interested in being just friends, Ran." Ukyo responded, glancing meaningfully in Shampoo's direction.

"Yeah well, she's not exactly into this." Ranma shot back, gesturing at the very well developed pair of breasts he was currently in the possession of. "She thinks she wants me, but... Ukyo pretend for a moment that you were the one that was cursed and not me. So I'm just a guy, and you're a girl cursed to change into a guy."

Ukyo looked at him in amusement. "Okay."

"Now, I don't like guys." Ranma paused a moment to let that sink in. "So even if I was madly in love with you, it'd be awkward when you got nailed with cold water. All Shampoo's sees is a cute guy, and that's just not how it works." Ranma shook his head. This was all so needlessly complicated. "So please stop. This is awkward enough already."

Ukyo looked at him for a long moment. "I get it."

"That how Ranma feel?" Shampoo asked.

Ranma turned her. "Shampoo you're important to me. You know that." Ranma started massaging her bicep as she cross one arm over her chest. "But it won't work."

Shampoo stopped and looked down for a long moment. Ranma started to draw nearer so he could comfort her, when Shampoo looked up and pulled him into an embrace. He blinked and looked at her in confusion. "Shampoo?" She looked like she was leaning in for a kiss.

"Shampoo want to try kissing girl-type Ranma." She responded.

"I told you." Ukyo responded from the side.

Ranma glanced between the two of them for a few moments, trying to gage both of their attitudes about all this. "Fine. I want her in." He declared in Ukyo's direction before wrapping his arms around Shampoo's neck and pulling her into a kiss he desperately wanted. Shampoo started aggressively kissing him back, and he started playing with one of her breasts as their kisses got more intense hoping she'd take the hint to return the favor. The odd off clicking sound of a camera shutter that'd he'd been hearing off and on for the past few minutes sped up. He focused on just enjoying himself, as the warrior woman started really getting into it.

[-]

What looked like a middle school aged boy with slicked back spiky dark hair, a blue shirt and white shorts, was leaning casually against a tree and looking utterly bored, despite being nailed in place by a set of shuriken spatulas. Ranma had expected more of a reaction from a peeping tom that now had three women bearing down on him. The rather expensive looking 35mm camera he'd been holding was currently resting in Ukyo's hands.

"So, let's start with the basics. Who are you, and why are you here?" Ukyo demanded, looking like she was ready to unleash some violence. "And don't waste my time by saying you were bird watching. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

"I'm Sasuke, vassal of the Kuno family." The boy responded, unperturbed as he pulled out enough shuriken spatulas to free one of his arms.

"And Kuno wanted pictures?" Ranma asked.

Sasuke held up his hand, and rummaged in one of the cargo pockets on the sides of his shorts for a moment, before pulling out a sheet of paper. "He wanted pictures of the 'redheaded goddess and the vile brown haired sorceress that has her under her spell.' "

"So what? You were supposed to be gathering intelligence on our weaknesses, by following us around with a camera?" Ukyo asked incredulously. Given Kuno's persistence, Ranma didn't blame her.

Sasuke looked at his sheet of paper again. "P.S. preferably of them making out."

Ranma's eye twitched. After all the crap he'd been giving them about being together and declarations about how he was under Ukyo's spell, he'd sent out a servant with those kind of orders?! "Ukyo confiscate the film." Ranma ordered.

"Already done so, sugar. What about the camera?"

Ranma considered for a moment. "Let him have it back."

Sasuke blinked, as his camera was returned to him. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out a 35mm roll of film, and held it out. "Here."

Ukyo took it. "What's this?"

"The shots from earlier." Sasuke elaborated in a matter of fact tone, while managing to come off as bored despite his current predicament.

"Thanks, kid." Ranma responded.

"Shampoo no have to kill now." Shampoo added from behind them as she sheathed a double edged Tai Chi sword up her sleeve.

It may have been a trick of his imagination, but Ranma was pretty sure that Sasuke relaxed a little after that declaration. Not without justification, given Shampoo had been making a point to show off by doing things like slicing leaves in half that were in midair that she had been tossing up in rather large groups, in between going through Tai Chi forms. He was reminded how grateful he was that she wasn't out to kill him anymore after that little display.

[-]

"So you decided to come along, Shampoo?" Nabiki asked, as they entered the restaurant. She was sitting on one of the stools enjoying a cup of tea.

Ranma looked over to see Shampoo nodding. "Shampoo went for it, like Nabiki suggested."

"Good girl." Nabiki blinked as she noticed him staring at her. "What?"

"You suggested she make out with me?"

"Yeah." Nabiki responded in a matter of fact tone, like it was nothing special. "Ukyo was the one who suggested we share, instead of getting all torn up over our feelings for each other. Right, Ukyo?"

Ukyo opened and closed her mouth, before pinching her nose in annoyance. "Yes."

"And thus you surely wouldn't object to someone who Ranma developed strong feelings for in China joining our little group, right?"

Ukyo bristled, but after a moment sighed in resignation. "Right."

"So why don't you two make up, while I get reacquainted with Ran?" Nabiki declared with a smirk.

[-]

Author's Notes:

The design of the classic Lovely Angels/Dirty Pair varies between animated productions. There is however a trend for them to wear some kind of wrap or band on their bicep with Yuri wearing some shade of red, and Kei wearing some shade of blue. For something Ukyo and Ranma are throwing together on the fly scarves work. There is no plan for them to be wearing the cut down tops and hot pants that are hallmark of the classic Dirty Pair at this time, but Nabiki might go there. Maybe with Shampoo dressed up as some kind of interpretation of Mughi.

I want to give a call out to SpiralAK for being willing to be beta reader on this chapter, and help with sorting some things out.


	18. Chapter 18

[-]

"I hate this."

His Mom was holding him, and gently rubbing his back. It'd started in the middle of the night. The pills Kasumi had given him had helped, but he still felt nasty and he'd not been able to get back to sleep after it'd started. He'd found himself staring at the ceiling thinking about it. Why did he have to put up with this?

"I know." His mother responded comfortingly. "Do you want to take the day off?"

Ranma quickly shook his head. He could walk. He wasn't going to let this stupid girl body incapacitate him, even if he felt like crap. "No, this is something I need to do."

His Mom smiled at him, and gave him a little squeeze. "I'm proud of you."

Ranma blinked and looked up at her, not understanding. "For what?"

"You're a strong person." His Mom responded. "You didn't grow up as a girl, and I think most boys your age would be crying about now."

He looked at her in indignation. "I can deal with this. I'm not weak." He shot back.

"No, you're not."

[-]

Nabiki looked over at Ukyo as they sat next to each other on one of the benches at the train station, with Shampoo hanging out a little further down. They were all waiting for Ranma's train to come in. Ukyo appeared to be rather annoyed with her, and had barely spoken a word to her. That was fine with her.

Nabiki could appreciate that Ranma found Ukyo to be highly attractive. For a girl she was relatively tall, probably over 170cm, and had a kind of stately beauty to her that she was able to use as part of her pretty boy act. Even now, with no reason to keep up the act she projected confidence and control.

Nabiki bumped her. "Hey there, lady killer."

Nabiki could see Ukyo suppress a look of annoyance. "Something I can do for you, Nabiki?" Ukyo asked calmly.

Nabiki smiled, and leaning in kissed her on the lips. She smirked at Ukyo's reaction. "I bet I'm a better kisser than you." Nabiki sassed, while wrapping her arms around Ukyo's neck.

Ukyo looked at her with controlled annoyance. "Oh?" Ukyo responded. As she predicted, Ukyo raised to the challenge.

[-]

Ranma stepped off the train and quickly got out of the way of the stream of people, grateful to be free of the crowd. As if bleeding between his legs, and all that came with that hadn't been enough, there'd been the crowds of the rush hour train full of students and salarymen. Looking around he stopped when he spotted Ukyo with Nabiki's arms wrapped around her engaging in some rather aggressive kissing. He could only stare as it felt like the ground was falling away from him, as he felt himself go cold.

"Ran?" Ranma blinked as he realized that Shampoo was holding him from behind.

He looked up at Shampoo's caring and concerned face. He touched her arm, and gave it a little squeeze. He recognized her concern as the concern of a friend, but a friend that cared deeply about him. "Thanks, Shampoo." In a way her being here for him like this made him feel worse.

"What's bothering Ran?"

Nabiki started to pull away from Ukyo breaking their kiss, and Ranma felt his insides trying to turn themselves inside out. While before he couldn't really bring himself to look away, now he couldn't bring himself to look at them and potentially meet Ukyo's gaze. He felt a well of emotions but mostly he felt hurt, and yet he recognized he'd been doing the same to her yesterday. He let Shampoo hold him, leaning into her slightly.

"Ran?" He recognized Ukyo's voice, but shied away from her in Shampoo's grasp. Why did he feel so vulnerable?

He forced himself to turn towards her. As the Old Man had always said you couldn't let them see you sweat. He squared himself off his shoulders, and put on a strong face even as his stomach felt like it was twisting in knots as his heart continued to hurt. "Good morning, Ukyo." He forced himself to say.

He could see that Ukyo saw right through him, and was looking at him with clear concern. The feeling of vulnerability intensified, and he made a tactical withdrawal.

[-]

Ranma leaned against a wall near the school. There was a small building with a sign with accupuncture, accupressure, and chiropractor on its sides. The cramps were starting to intensify again, and he could feel the muscles down there contracting in weird ways. Damn. He'd lost them a few blocks back, and now he almost wished he hadn't.

A hand landed on his shoulder. He quickly spun and prepared to throw a punch while pulling back.

"You wouldn't hit a man with glasses would you?" The man asked cheerfully, while holding a skeleton. Ranma glared at him.

"Yes, I would." He responded bluntly, while pulling back several steps making sure he was well outside this guy's grabbing range. Something about this guy felt very dangerous, and the disarming smile and apparent easy going nature was doing the opposite of putting him at ease.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Doctor Tofu." The guy continued on pleasantly.

Ranma glared, and pulled himself together. His girly parts felt like a mess with all the cramps and muscle contractions but he needed to get to school, not get caught by the neighborhood child molester. Bouncing up he raced down the fence towards the school.

[-]

Akane raced towards the school grounds yelling her battle cry against boys, and raced up to the school doors without encountering any resistance... Akane turned and scanned the school yard. There was the soccer team playing cards. There was the judo team going through their morning stretches. There was Kuno sitting in one of the school trees scribbling in a notebook. And none of them had so much as acknowledged her presence.

[-]

Ranma paused near the gate. He had no idea where anyone was at this point, but they weren't here. The sports teams and Kuno however were.

"Fiery haired one, hast thou broken free from the foul sorceress' spell? Come then, leap into my arms." Kuno declared opening his arms in a grandiose manner from the head of the crowd.

He started backing away. "Get away from me!" He screamed at them, shivering and feeling physically ill as the idea of what their intentions clearly were. The first one that got anywhere near him was going to get it. He panicked as his back bumped into something.

His punch was diverted, and someone hugged him. He struggled and broke the grip pulling back. "Ran, it's okay. It's just me." After a moment he recognized that it was Ukyo.

Another set of arms wrapped around him, and a pair of breasts pressed into his back. "Shampoo." He said as recognition dawned from her scent.

"Is okay now." Shampoo soothed. Ranma suppressed the shivering as best he could. He didn't want to show weakness to her, or Ukyo. Especially not in front of them.

He pulled away, even though he wanted to continue to having Shampoo comforting him, doing his best to try to pull himself together. He forced a smile, not trusting his voice. To his back he felt the eyes of over a dozen guys, who were all still there looking on. At least Kuno had taken the hint to back off. Ranma started shivering again despite his efforts to suppress it. He started getting annoyed. Stupid girl body. Stupid boys.

"Shhh." Someone hushed as she caught him and held him tenderly. He turned towards her to find it was Nabiki.

"What are you doing?" He whispered in her ear. He was a girl right now. They'd been working so hard to keep this part of things under wraps.

Nabiki chuckled quietly. "It's started bleeding again hasn't it?"

"Why are you asking about that at a time like this?" He hissed quietly.

"I have my reasons." She looked behind him, and he felt a woman hug him from behind. He glanced up recognizing it was Ukyo, looking at him comfortingly. He felt the two of them hugging him between them. It felt warm, and he let them hold him.

[-]

Kuno bristled as the sorceress wrapped her arms around both Nabiki and the red haired one. It was as he'd suspected. The brown haired sorceress was seeking to bring more women under her sway. Yes, he could see clearly now. The red haired one had been placed under some manner of foul sorcerous spell, that had instilled fear towards her natural inclinations to jump into his manly arms. Thus the sorceress was able to sway her to her own vile proclivities.

It was only natural that the vile sorceress would have picked off someone like Nabiki. The rumors had already spoken of her engaging in such depravities, and she had always been prone to the weird and strange. She represented low hanging fruit that the vile sorceress had picked, and enthralled like the purple haired girl with the red eyes. The time to strike was now, before she had a chance to sink her claws in and corrupt the rest of the nubile maidens.

"Come. Stand with me, so we may vanquish this foul sorceress." He declared confidently, while pointing his bokken at the brown haired witch. They would complete their noble duty.

"Sorry Kuno, we're going to have to revoke your group fighting permit today."

"What?! Why?!" He demanded of the disciplinary committee representative.

"As you should remember, school rules clearly specify that fights are allowed provided either a formal or informal challenge is given and accepted. This is no longer within the bounds of the intent of the rule." The third year responded calmly as he adjusted his glasses.

Kuno glared at him. He was the son of the principal, and the great Tatewaki Kuno rising star of the kendo world. The great Flaming Comet. Those who heard his name quivered in fear. How dare this peon get in the way of his noble quest to protect the school from this foul sorceress!

"I care not. We must vanquish this villianess. Who will stand with me?" He declared. Looking around he found the various sports teams had abandoned him, and were returning to the school building.

[-]

Ranma looked at the three girls around him, that were making it very obvious they were all taller than he was as a girl. They'd brought him to the nurse's office, and they'd basically cornered him. They'd closed the drapes around two of the beds even though they were currently occupying only one. Nabiki had informed the nurse of the status of his girly parts, and that he was having issues. He'd bit back a retort as it'd occurred to him that he'd only be proving her point.

Ranma looked between the other girls. "You're overdoing it." He was currently sitting in Shampoo's lap with Nabiki and Ukyo on either side. Shampoo had her arms wrapped around his waist, and both Ukyo and Nabiki had a comforting hand resting on his person.

"As I recall you said something about me not wanting to be anywhere near you when it was your time of the month." Nabiki responded with a smirk, while leaning in slightly. Ranma looked at her in indignation.

His attention swiftly turned to Ukyo as she started running her hand down his arm. "Don't worry, I made sure to tie Kuno to his bed."

Ranma placed his face in his free hand. Her intention had clearly been to comfort, but being already boxed in like this, it was having the opposite effect. "Can we not talk about him?"

He started as Shampoo started rubbing his abdomen. "Ranma like?" She asked. It was kind of nice. He let her do it, while leaning back against her, and opening his abdomen up to her touch as he let his eyes slip closed. His girly parts were still cramping, but the edge seemed to be coming off of that.

"Is she purring?" Nabiki's voice commented, intruding on his enjoyment of Shampoo's belly rub.

Ranma swiped playfully at Nabiki with a blow that was never meant to connect. A pair of arms on his left slipped around his waist, and pulled him off Shampoo's lap. He found himself sitting in Ukyo's lap as she helped him against her in that comforting way of hers. "What happened this morning?" She asked quietly, in that way or hers that let him know he didn't need to answer if he wasn't ready yet.

He wasn't sure if he could really explain himself, even if he wanted to. Still even if Ukyo would accept him not answering he knew that the other girls wouldn't. "Nabiki was kissing you."

"The idea wasn't just that we share you, remember?" Nabiki responded from the other side of Shampoo.

Ranma looked between them, exerting self control to keep a lid on the feelings that were bubbling up. Nabiki looked happy and confident with the situation. Shampoo appeared to be content with studying what was going on for the moment, and Ukyo was looking apologetic. "She challenged me about who the best kisser was." Ukyo said hesitantly.

He found himself clinging to her. "Ukyo." He wanted her to only look at him.

He felt the bed shift slightly, and Nabiki was there clinging on to him, her arms wrapping around both him and Ukyo. Once more sandwiching him between them. "Do you dislike this?" Nabiki asked.

Ukyo looked embarrassed by the whole thing, and more than a little peeved at Nabiki. "No, but..." Ranma's response was cut off as Nabiki gently turned him toward her just enough so she could rest the side of her face against his.

"I want to know what it's like to be held and loved by both of you." Nabiki whispered.

"Nabiki." He didn't really have a response to something like that.

"Nabiki, I think you're misreading things. We're still getting comfortable with each other." Ukyo shot back.

"Which is why you're having sex with her?" Nabiki asked in challenge.

"It's not like that. We aren't even taking off each others clothes when we're doing that. How are we going to do something like that as a group?" Ukyo asked pointedly.

"I have some ideas." Nabiki responded. "But why couldn't we just kiss and cuddle? And given Ranma's friend is interested, no one has to be the third wheel." Ranma felt Nabiki adjust her grip slightly to hold him tenderly while leaning into him slightly, the side of her head still pressed against his. He was caught between them with his body twisted at an angle that was a little awkward, but not uncomfortably so. At least not with the way they were currently holding him.

"I don't think Shampoo's ready for something like that." Ranma objected. He felt torn up and uneasy about this situation. Dragging Shampoo into something like that was unfair.

"Shampoo not mind, if Ranma want to." Shampoo said quietly.

Ranma mentally sighed. "Nabiki, I'm not ready to do something like that."

"How about another sleepover? We could practice kissing?" Nabiki suggested, teasing.

Ranma looked back at Ukyo, who was looking rather put upon. "What do you think Ukyo? Want to kiss her again?"

Ranma could see that Ukyo was working through how to express herself. "I'm fine having more sleepovers." Ukyo responded, neatly dodging the question. Ranma pulled her a little closer. It was pleasantly warm between them.

[-]

Ranma emerged from the stall, holding out the used pad with two fingers. Things felt a little less gross between his legs, and the smell would hopefully be lessened. Another girl was washing her hands. Eyeballing the distance to the burnable trash, trash can, Ranma went ahead and tossed the used pad insuring it didn't need to be near him any longer than absolutely necessary. He quickly moved over to the sink to wash his hands.

He wasn't comfortable with being in here, not even with Ukyo insisting that they escort each other to the girls restroom. Not that she was here at the moment. Just like a boys restroom there were stalls providing a measure of privacy as one went about their business, so it wasn't like he was really seeing anything he wouldn't normally. Still this wasn't somewhere he belonged, even if he couldn't exactly use the boys restroom in this body.

"...heavy flow?"

Ranma blinked and turned to find the girl who'd been at the sink when he'd left his stall looking at him. She had shoulder length dark hair and brown eyes. After a moment it occurred to him what she was asking about. He felt his cheeks burning. "Can we not talk about that?" He asked.

"You're Ran, right?" He nodded in response as he finished washing his hands. "I'm Mizuki." She indicated that was she was also a second year in a class down the hall.

"Nice to meet you." Ranma responded, mentally checking out and trying to figure out some way to get out of this conversation. Mizuki however was only getting started, and she was between him and the door.

"You looked like you were having a hard time of it this morning." Mizuki commented.

Ranma glanced away trying to think of a way out of this conversation that didn't just involve making a tactical withdrawal. "Yeah." He acknowledged.

"What happened to make you respond like that to guys?" He recognized she was digging, and decided he was justified in just going ahead and starting to walk around her.

"Ukyo's the only guy I need." He said pausing at the door, responding to a nagging feeling he should at least say something.

"What's it like when you do it?"

Ranma stopped his hand almost having reached the door at the question. Glancing back it looked like the girl was honestly curious. "We kiss and hold each other a lot." He smiled. "We're still getting comfortable with each other."

Mizuki looked surprised. He took her speechless state as an opening, and left.

[-]

Ranma glanced around the class. He'd just not been able to pull himself together to play the role of Ran, and when he'd tried he hadn't really hit his stride in the conversations that he'd been "invited" to be part of. The word had apparently gotten out that he was currently bleeding from his girly bits, as during the passing periods he'd had several girls come to him, and strike up a conversation about it. Thankfully they'd decided he was shy, and him having a limited understanding of what they were talking about about had been interpreted as him being sheltered rather than a boy who'd been cursed to turn into a girl. Although given that he doubted he'd have believed that possible a scant few months before, perhaps that was just because they didn't have such an alternative.

While very embarrassing the girls overall had seemed nice. None of them had given much crap about it, even if they'd seemed to consider themselves invited to talk all about bloating, cramps, and other details of their experiences with what his girly bits were currently doing. They'd given Ukyo a wide berth, but for whatever reasons they almost seemed to have sympathy for him.

Ukyo forced her way in, clearing out a group that had started up around him as lunch had started. His face was burning from all the talk he'd been forced to overhear. He'd be perfectly content if what he'd heard about in the last few minutes was the last time he ever had to hear about it, ever.

Ukyo placed a hand on his shoulder. "How bad was it?"

"Pretty bad. You ever talk to other girls about that stuff?" Ranma asked.

Ukyo shook her head. "Not really." Given their past conversations, and that she'd spent so much time pretending to be a guy, he wasn't surprised.

"I wish I could just forget the conversations." Ranma responded quietly. "I think they're trying to help, but it's embarrassing."

"I can imagine." Ukyo responded, starting to massage his shoulder. He leaned into her touch slightly. "How you feeling?"

"Better, now that you're here." He just wanted to cuddle with her. The plan however meant that they needed to run the lunch line, and they'd announce and do their first live run with the restaurant tomorrow. "Don't worry, I can do it."

[-]

Ranma was glad that the disciplinary committee was here. He didn't think he could tolerate a guy doing something like touching his butt. He was struggling enough with keeping his cool with the occasional comments. For some reason there seemed to be more girls today, and while their disapproval was evident they seemed tolerant? He wasn't sure how to put it, but they were being almost nice while clearly maintaining their distance. A lot of them had been ordering a smaller more diet conscious size that Nabiki had suggested they try out.

Ranma greeted a girl with shoulder length dark hair, asking her where she'd like to sit, and offering her one of the laminated short menus that Nabiki had, had printed up. Her and Ukyo were still working on the full size menus they'd be using over the weekend, but these short menus were what they'd be using tomorrow. They apparently gave a decent selection that was relatively easy to make, while not exploring the extent of what Ukyo could do.

Ranma felt his cheeks redden slightly as he recognized her as the girl from the restroom. The one that he'd ended up telling details about what he and Ukyo did when making love with each other. Thankfully she didn't bring up anything related to that, and he was able to get her seated, and handle her order without incident.

[-]

Ranma just enjoyed the closeness as Ukyo held him, and gently rubbed his back. School was over and he was sitting in her lap, with her holding him against her. In this smaller female body it almost felt like Ukyo was enveloping him. It almost made the whole thing worth it. He didn't feel like practicing with her or Shampoo today. After her and Nabiki figured out things for tomorrow, he hoped they could just cuddle for a while. Tomorrow would be better, as the bleed would start tapering off more.

"Here you two are." Nabiki noted. Ranma slipped an eye open, and watched her cross the abandoned classroom.

"Hey Nabiki." He greeted, feeling a little tired and not really wanting to leave Ukyo's lap right now.

"It looks like you made it through the day okay." Nabiki commented.

"She's just taking a break." Ukyo noted warmly. Ranma snuggled up to her a little more.

"Well the rumor mill is flying about you two. The most popular story seems to be that a boy attempted to rape Ran back in middle school, and that Ukyo is her best friend who comforted her. Ukyo being a tall and strong girl took to cross-dressing in order to protect Ran from other boys and her lingering fear of men. Basically the two of you have a tragic relationships based around Ran dealing with that incident back in middle school." Nabiki summarized.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Ranma asked. He'd never paid much attention to this stuff. If they wanted to pick a fight with him, he just needed to make sure they were the one who threw the first punch without being overly antagonistic. If they didn't they couldn't really do anything to him, talk was cheap.

"Well you're the tragic victim, Ukyo's the tragic hero sacrificing herself to help you, and they have a nice neat dramatic narrative that you're really just a pair of normal girls forced into playing at being lesbians because of tragic circumstances. There's several other rumors that go about it a little differently with the details, but settle into the same theme. I'd say that things are going better than we could have hoped for on that front.

You should have seen Kuno. He's been cast as the villain, and he's been sulking and trying to defend himself as this whole thing has blown up in his face. Unless something changes things dramatically, we should be able to use the school as a good launching platform." Nabiki reached over and started rubbing his back, before leaning in for a kiss.

[-]

"Should be able to use the school as a good launching platform."

Kuno peaked into what should have been an abandoned classroom to find that Nabiki was kissing the fiery haired one, while the brown haired sorceress looked on at while her vile spell had wrought. It was as he'd feared. They'd both been enthralled, and not only were they going to enthrall the remainder of the school, but beyond as well. They might have pulled the wool over the others eyes, but his vision was clear and it was up to him to stop this vile sorceress from bringing all the vulnerable maidens of Furinkan under her spell.

As tempting as it was to attempt to strike them down now, he recognized that he needed to stay his hand. Even with his noble spirit and incomparable skill, he couldn't hope to stand against this foul sorceress' abilities when she was empowered and supported by her thralls. No, as much as it pained his noble heart he might need to lower himself to using subterfuge to free her thralls, so that together they might vanquish the foul witch.

[-]

Shampoo gave Akane some pointers as they went through some Tai Chi movements. The girl was still forcing it too much, but she was getting better. It was beginning to resemble actual Tai Chi, instead of calisthenics, and she seemed to be trying to actually relax some. It was progress.

"Shampoo, Ranma's on the phone." Kasumi called out

Shampoo went ahead and finished up giving Akane instructions, and gave her something to work on before rushing into the house. Maybe he'd ask her out on a date.

[-]

Shampoo found girl-type Ranma sitting in one of the booths with a book and some sheets of paper spread out, while Nabiki and Ukyo were talking with each other behind the counter. From what she could pick up they seemed to be talking about the amount of food they needed for tomorrow. She sat down next to Ranma, and wrapped an arm around the smaller girl.

Ranma looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you, Shampoo." Ranma responded in passable Chinese.

"I'm here for you." She responded back in Chinese. Ranma was starting to get good enough with Chinese she could get away with using pronouns half the time. Based on Ranma's reaction she'd just barely managed to parse that. Maybe she was pushing her a little too fast to understand her language.

"Ranma sorry." Ranma responded in Chinese. "Ranma feel like..." She could see Ranma was struggling to find the right word. "demanding of Shampoo."

Shampoo looked at the girl who'd simultaneously been her near constant companion and prey for two months. Like back then the smaller girl was looking up to her, and she found herself regarding and feeling protective towards the smaller girl almost like she was her younger sister. A younger sister with a very handsome older brother. "Ranma not demanding of Shampoo." She intentionally made her speech simpler to make it easier for Ranma to understand her Chinese.

Ranma blinked, looking up at her and colored slightly looking very cute. Shampoo found her attention being drawn to the girl's lips. "Ranma glad." Ranma responded, and leaned against her. Shampoo found herself smiling as Ranma's head shifted to rest on her arm. Ranma was looking very cute.

[-]


	19. Chapter 19

[-]

Kaori settled into her padded business chair and looked at her the subordinate she had called into her office from across her desk. She had not had a chance to stop by Furinkan-cho of the Nerima ward of Tokyo, due to the needs of her own schooling. Thus she had needed to rely on her subordinates for intelligence and ensure that the Furinkan-cho franchise restaurant was ready. She had been talking with the marketing and legal department heads, who said they should be able to have a promotional sale event, with some promotional seasonal food added to the menu to help draw customers in. The ads had already been made up and were setup for distribution. They were merely waiting on her order to be released.

Kaori had been debating the merits just going ahead and letting them run, versus waiting on Nabiki to make her move since the challenge had been issued. She had finally settled on waiting on Nabiki to make her move before releasing the media campaign, which would of course augment their normal advertising. The Furinkan-cho franchise had been renovated within recent years and had performed solidly. So she didn't see a need for any real change in strategy. They were well established, and would crush whatever little upstart thing Nabiki tried as a matter of course.

What concerned her more was that Ranma had dropped off the face of the planet. She was starting to suspect this whole competition was just a means for her to be distracted while Nabiki made arrangements to try to get Ranma out of her reach.

"So you're sure this Ran Saotome has no relation to Ranma?" She asked, steepling her fingers.

Mizuki shook her head. "No Kaori, but I don't see any reason why she would. She never said anything about Ranma, and she seems to be terrified of guys. She's also really close to Ukyo, and the talk is that Ukyo was the only one who was there for her after she had a bad run in with some guy. Given Saotome is a very common last name, I don't see any reason we should presume they're even aware of each other.

"And Nabiki's not announced anything yet?" Kaori asked.

Mizuki shook her head. "Nothing official. It looks like she'll probably be partnering up with Ukyo and running an Okonomiyaki place. They've been running a lunch line for two days now."

"Okonomiyaki?" Kaori asked, rolling the idea over in her head. It was true that there wasn't a pre-existing restaurant that sold Okonomiyaki in Furinkan-cho. If that was Nabiki's plan it was a gambit. It was a relatively popular Kansai dish and it had the novelty factor due to the lack of pre-existing competitors in Furinkan-cho. However by the same token there was nothing to establish that there was sufficient demand from the inhabitants of Furinkan-cho to support such a business. She had to respect the girl for having the guts to try such a thing, and with such an odd pair as the core of her staff.

"Yes, Ma'am." Mizuki replied while holding out a laminated piece of illustrated paper. Kaori took it.

"What's this?" She looked it over noticing it appeared to be a very basic menu with prices and options listed.

"It's the menu they've been using with their lunch line."

For a small time lunch line operation, Kaori was impressed. By proper restaurant standards the options were rather sparse, but an impromptu lunch line didn't have the same kind of accommodations that a restaurant offered, like a walk in fridge. "How's the quality?"

"Good. They can handle a lot of people rather fast too with Ukyo cooking and Ran waitressing."

Well then. It looked like Nabiki had what she needed to make a fight of it. At least there was that. "Thank you for your report. If you or the others see Ranma, let me know."

She had allowed them to check out some company cell phones for the purpose. They were massive brick like things and had cost quite a bit, but the ability to just call instead of having to locate a pay phone or landline was valuable for something like this. This challenge was ultimately just a dalliance in her pursuit of Ranma as a potential suitor. It was important to not let this distraction get in the way of her achieving her actual goal.

"I'd like to make a request for some Mishima combat delivery bikes, given that we're going to be going up against other martial artists." Mizuki said pausing at the door.

Kaori debated the cost in her head, they were expensive but they more than justified their cost when you had a restaurant fight. "Granted." Furinkan-cho was an area that had a relative abundance of martial artists anyways, and they could shift them back into the company pool if they proved unnecessary for operations in Furinkan-cho. There were some indications that things were heating up in Sakae-cho, Nerima.

[-]

Shampoo glanced down to look at the redhead lying against her arm. Her eyes had slipped shut a little under an hour ago. She tore her eyes away to look at the two other girls who were currently sitting on the other side of the booth.

"Let her sleep." The chef girl said quietly, happily looking at Ranma.

"So are there any objections to the name Lovely Angels?" Nabiki asked.

"I don't know it seems kind of... short sighted. I know we've been doing the whole Dirty Pair thing, but that sounds like something you'd name a gentleman's club, not a normal restaurant." Ukyo responded.

Nabiki looked at her, and appeared to be seriously considering her words. "I can see where you're coming from, but I think that depends upon how we set the tone with advertising. I think it's important in the short term that we emphasize that there's a female staff. That'll draw in the boys."

"But if you go too far that way you're going to scare off the families, and the kind of customers that are going to carry things once the novelty has worn off. I think we should go for something a little more reserved."

"Hey, it's not like I'm suggesting we go around in mini-skirts. Just because the name could be used for a gentleman's club, doesn't mean people are going to assume that. I think it's a good name." The business girl seemed like she was getting angry. "What'd you like to call it then?"

"Ucchan's." The chef girl responded bluntly.

"Ucchan's?" The business girl asked with a clear lack of enthusiasm. "That's kind of narcissistic, and won't mean anything to anyone who's not already partaking of your lunch line. Lovely Angels allows us to key into that, due to your rising popularity as the Dirty Pair, and reach a larger audience. It's a good name."

"It's traditional to use a person's name!" The chef girl shot back.

"And we need something distinctive with some pizzazz to grab people's attention. We have three days to transition from a lunch line to something that can fight an established franchise. Three days." The business girl declared pointing aggressively at the table. Shampoo was unfamiliar with the gesture, maybe she wanted to bury the chef girl?

"I don't like this." The chef girl declared, standing up. "I'm the one that's going to have to live in and run this place."

Shampoo felt Ranma stirring. Ranma looked around confused as she took in the scene. "Ukyo? What's going on?"

"Ukyo and Nabiki are fighting over restaurant name." Shampoo noted helpfully in Japanese.

"Did either of them suggest The Okonomiyaki Dojo?" Ranma asked.

Shampoo could see that the other two were considering it.

[-]

Ranma noticed a plain looking folder – that had NK-1124 printed on the tab – lying on the table as he let himself into his Mom's apartment. His mother was busy making dinner. He put down his bag, and moved to help her. Making dinner from scratch like this was too much work when you just had two people.

"Welcome home." His Mom greeted warmly, as he started getting to work on quickly preparing some of the vegetables.

"It's good to be home." He acknowledged. It was nice just to have a home. It'd be nicer if the Old Man and his Mom actually got back together, but he could live with this. "It looks like Sukiyaki."

"I thought you might appreciate a nice meal." His Mom responded with a comforting smile.

He returned her smile.

[-]

Ranma lay in his futon. It was kind of weird in a way. The Old Man wasn't here. Neither were any of the girls. He had ended up sleeping with Shampoo a few times in China, and had slept in the same bed as all of them at least once. It actually felt kind of weird to be sleeping alone, even though he knew his Mom was in the other room. He had almost asked to stay the night with Ukyo, but he suspected she had wanted to do _that_ again. Now wasn't a time he wanted to be doing such things. He had seriously considered staying the night with Shampoo or Nabiki, but wasn't sure they'd take it the right way.

So he was staring up at the ceiling. The worst part of this wasn't the physical component of it. It sucked, but he had dealt with worse. It was what it represented. He could get pregnant, and a guy could use his fully functional girly bits just like they would a real girl. That terrified and disturbed him more than anything else. The only saving grace was that he had never caught himself checking out a guy. The curse had at least given him the small mercy of still just being attracted to girls. He wasn't about to argue about him finding himself attracted to different things about a girl when he was a girl, than when he was a guy under the circumstances. Not that there was anyone to argue with.

The girls in his life had shown him that there was a positive side to this.

[-]

"Ranma, you need to wake up."

Ranma's eyes fluttered open. Wha? After a second he realized that he was alone, in his Mom's study which doubled as his room. But where'd Ukyo, Nabiki, and Shampoo gone? After a few more moments he woke up a little more and recognized it had been a dream. Hence why he was still clothed, and his girly bits were tingling strongly, rather than...

He went ahead and got up, shifting such thoughts out of his mind. He needed to get ready. His girly bits tingled insistently. He decided he would deal with it in the shower.

[-]

Ranma returned from his lukewarm shower to find a box waiting for him as he pulled a set of clean clothes out of his pack. Curiosity got the better of him, and he opened it to find it contained some kind of small ovaloid thing with a wire running to some kind of control box thingy. He blinked in non-comprehension at it, and picked up a folded up note that was in the box in addition to a few other things.

Unfolding the note, he glanced over it and was immediately greeted by a picture of the intended usage of the small ovaloid thing. He felt his face go red as he found himself extremely embarrassed, and simultaneously a little intrigued, by what the thing was intended for. It didn't help that the note was from his Mom, and it was new.

[-]

"Not going to try it out?" His Mom asked as he entered the main room. He didn't need to ask what _it_ was.

He shook his head, not trusting his voice to answer.

His Mom turned back to preparing breakfast. "Well I made sure to have them put it in a non-descript box if you want to take it with you and try it out with Ukyo."

"Mom!"

[-]

Ranma was glad to find Ukyo, Nabiki, and Shampoo waiting for him, and hugged them each in turn. The bleed was still going, but it wasn't as bad as things had been yesterday. He wasn't going to say a word to them about the dream from this morning. Especially not Nabiki. He held onto Shampoo probably a little longer than he should, enjoying the feeling of her strong arms wrapped around this female body. Shampoo held him close against her warm body.

"It looks like Ran's taking up residence." Ukyo noted disapprovingly.

"It looks like Shampoo got the luck of the draw this time." Nabiki observed, her tolerance having a subtle undercurrent of disapproval.

"Indeed. Tell me boy, what are your intentions towards Shampoo?"

Ranma cracked open an eye and looked over to see Baba Yaga had shown up. Well that changed the game. "I don't have a good answer to that question." He admitted. He wanted to continue enjoying Shampoo's warmth, and...

"Ranma likes Shampoo, and Shampoo like back." Shampoo answered. Ranma felt a little heady as he snuggled up to her.

"I see. It seems like the boy has feelings for you as well, even if you have some competition." Ranma noticed Cologne was smiling. "Have a good day ladies."

She bounced away, leaving them unmolested. It appeared that the nickname Nabiki had suggested fit. Ranma pulled away from Shampoo, realizing that if he stayed in Shampoo's arms much longer he would not want to leave.

[-]

Nabiki watched as the three martial artists played a game of tag, which involved a long of running along the top of fences and roofs. By her reckoning Ukyo was currently it and was trying to tag Ranma. She had seen a few things that had led her to believe that they weren't following an orthodox form of the rules while she snapped a few more pictures with her snapshot camera.

Nabiki felt herself going a little cold at the display. She knew that she could never play with them like that. She had figured herself as being in the position of Sylia, with Ukyo playing Linna, Shampoo playing Priss, and Ranma playing Nene for when Born to Kill came out next weekend. Yet things like this made it so she felt like she was Nene. She had her mind, but that was ultimately all she had to offer a quick mind, the ability to be clever, and a lot of knowledge.

Shampoo was turning into a wild card, but fortunately she was still manageable. There were enough issues between her and Ranma that she didn't have to worry too much about Shampoo managing to swing things to her advantage in the short term. In the long term she should have more than adequate warning as things developed. Meanwhile Shampoo would be in a position to interfere with Ukyo, while she could keep her hands clean. In the short term she was losing, but her endgame was looking better than theirs.

And yet, it felt like she had already lost. Kasumi had helped her realize she brought something to different to the group, and that didn't mean Ranma didn't want to have a relationship with her. That however only went so far when she was the odd one out, and not aggressively pursuing Ranma's attention. Ranma was liable to forget about her as things currently stood. Maybe she should have gone ahead and did that thing Ukyo had told her about with Ranma on Tuesday. She had, had the opportunity thanks to some clever maneuvering, and she had been pretty sure she could have convinced Ranma to take that next step with her.

Instead she had just talked with Ranma and enjoyed the opportunity to be close with Ranma again. At the time she had been fine with that, and not seen any reason to go beyond that. She had found herself increasingly unsure of the wisdom of that decision, but lacked the wherewithal to actually try to force the issue.

[-]

Akane walked through the gate, and found that no one was paying her any mind. It was almost like she didn't exist. She glared at some of the boys, but they didn't even notice. She balled her hand into a fist, and buried it in a nearby tree, but found her frustration wasn't quenched. A few people walked around her muttering things about her being a violent girl, but otherwise didn't acknowledge her.

She had been feeling empty since yesterday. The only person who'd really acknowledged her existence had been Shampoo, and even she had left as soon as Ranma had called. Sure she could talk to Yuka or Sayuri, but that wasn't the same. What was going on?! She was the most attractive girl in school wasn't she? She was the one that the boys fought daily to win the hand of. She was the one all the girls' sports teams turned to when they ran into trouble. She was the strongest martial artist in Furinkan.

It wasn't fair. First Kasumi, and now this.

[-]

Kuno confidently strode into the yard, managing to persuade the disciplinary committee to allow him a personal challenge this morning. The rest were so far below him, it was no real loss. He alone would need to defend the honor of the school, and save it from the machinations of this vile sorceress.

He paused as he noted that the fair Akane Tendo appeared to be in some manner of distress. Her normally steadfast resolve appeared to have crumbled. He found his heart going out to her, and yet there was the vile sorceress approaching this institution of learning. He found himself torn on which to choose. On one hand here was the fair Akane Tendo, clearly in distress and requiring rescue. On the other there was the threat to the entire school, all of whom had already brought the fiery haired one and Nabiki under her sway. Then made them commit most perverse acts for her amusement. He needed to rescue Akane, and yet it was his duty to protect the school from this most dangerous foe and free those that she had enthralled.

Alas, he realized that free the school took priority, and took solace in the fact that he could comfort Akane later. Indeed she probably wept for the vile spells that had been wrought on her sister, twisting her. It was his duty to put things right. He was the only one who could do so.

[-]

Nabiki latched onto Ranma as Ukyo moved forward to meet Kuno. "Just let me hold you." She whispered into Ranma's ear. Ranma looked plaintively at her. "Ukyo can take care of herself, right?"

Ranma looked like she was going to object, but nodded in response after a moment's consideration. Nabiki held her close. She would have preferred boy-type Ranma to be the one holding her right now, but the situation was what it was. It wasn't like it wasn't nice to have girl-type Ranma in her arms, but even though she knew what the smaller girl was capable of it didn't offer the same comfort. She felt like she was the one comforting Ranma, and at least for the purposes of public appearances that was exactly what she was doing. If Ranma just rushed in and dealt with Kuno, then they'd lose a lot of the mental capital they'd gotten yesterday from how the student body had chosen to interpret things. It was best to simply keep Kuno the villain for now.

It wasn't something worth holding on to long term, but things had stabilized at a good place and it was better than throwing things back into chaos. They had sympathy at the moment, and that was something that could easily be lost given they were recognized as deviants. She was well familiar with how the opinion of the student body could easily swing against them based on them being deviants, like it had her.

"Nabiki, you don't have to hold me that tight." Ranma whispered in her ear. Ranma sounded patient, and understanding. Nabiki blinked and realized that she was holding Ranma a lot tighter than she should have. She loosened her grip as Ranma held her tenderly. Ranma looked into her eyes and smiled comfortingly at her. She found herself getting lost in those playful blue eyes.

She pulled herself back as she realized she was drawing in for a kiss. Ranma giggled quietly. "We've not had a lot of time together recently, have we?" She asked while pulling them back beyond the edge of the gate, and thus out of the line of site of those who'd already entered the grounds.

Nabiki felt herself blushing, as the implications of Ranma's question occurred to her. She took a small measure of comfort in the fact almost everyone's eyes would have been on Ukyo fighting Kuno, not them. "We've had a little." _Including that kiss yesterday_. She felt warm as she recognized that Ranma still cared for her, and if she wasn't where she currently was she would be kissing this spunky little redhead.

Ranma turned her head slightly, and her eyes seemed to twinkle with mischief. "It sounds like Ukyo's taken down Kuno." Nabiki felt Ranma slipping her hand into her own. "I'm looking forward to next week." Ranma whispered to her, pressing against her for a moment, and then pulled away, probably rushing over to Ukyo.

Nabiki looked after her as she left. She simultaneously felt happy knowing that Ranma was still interested in her, and a longing for more. A little regret at her decision to agree with Ukyo's proposal to share crept in, but she pushed it aside. She had found herself taking a liking to Ukyo, and was looking forward to eventually convincing the girl to teach her her cross dressing tricks. She wanted to try on what it'd be like to be the boy taking Ranma on a date, and of course what it was like when he was the boy and she was the girl.

[-]

Ukyo stood a few meters from Kuno, whose legs and arms were currently entangled in noodles. She had decided to take extra precautions after she had downed him, only to have him get up uttering something about fighting on. With the way she had wrapped things up he wasn't going to be getting back up for a while.

Ukyo glanced, noticing some movement in her peripheral vision and spotted Ranma rushing towards her. She turned in Ranma's direction with a smile on her face.

"Did he give you any trouble?" Ranma sassed her, standing just out of grabbing range while smiling at her.

Ukyo sheathed her giant spatula, and smiled back. "He didn't put up much of a fight." She took a step closer, and got an armful of redhead for her trouble, thankfully managing to maintain her footing.

"I was thinking. It's going to take a while to clean up after we run the restaurant tonight. Maybe it'd be better if I stayed over for the night." Ranma noted suggestively while lying against her.

Ukyo smiled in response, but other emotions tugged at her heart. Ranma now had two other girls vying for him, and she had found herself increasingly wanting Ranma to only look at her. She had never felt that way with her prior girlfriends. She started pursuing them so she could show them off and help waive off suspicions. Much like she had made a point to use the urinals with her special little cup that let her pee while standing up like a guy, knowing that guys tried to avoid looking at another guy's junk. She had gotten good at picking up girls and had started perfecting her art to see how far she could go, but she had never been interested in having a real relationship with any of them. That would have only increased the chances of her being found out.

When she had initially suggested the concept of sharing she had never expected she would feel like this. She had enjoyed Ranma's company, and the prospect of being able to experiment with him. She had been more than happy to share Ranma with Nabiki, and show Nabiki her tricks. She had not really understood why Nabiki had been so possessive. Now, now that the week she had negotiated for was almost over and Nabiki would have Ranma next week, she was beginning to understand. She didn't want to think about that, and yet it was a trap of her own construction. She had gotten what she had wanted. Ranma had very strong feelings for her, but after tomorrow he would effectively be Nabiki's for an entire week. It was tearing her up, and being with Ranma like this made the wound more distinct rather than salving it.

"I'd like that." She answered, leaning in a little bit she whispered. "I'd like to try a few things, you little ball of mischief." While she was unhappy with Ranma's behavior, it was hard to remain mad at her when she was acting like this.

Ranma grinned up at her with a twinkle in her eye.

[-]

Akane looked over at "Ran" and Ukyo in annoyance. The pair of perverts had taken the school by storm. All anyone wanted to talk about was "Ran" and Ukyo. What about her? She was the one who had to fight off the boys everyday. She was the one that all the girls' sports teams came to when they were trouble. Her. Not them. Her.

"Akane, are you okay?" Yuka asked.

"I'm fine." Akane shot back, not bothering to turn around. She would set things right somehow. How dare they ignore her!

[-]

Nabiki was happy to see that they'd not only been able to sustain, but grow the crowd partaking of the lunchline. It probably helped they were actually offering good food with fresh ingredients versus packaged bread, or the other the alternatives. Hopefully it was more than that, as come dinner time what they'd be competing against would be a lot better competition than that offered by Furinkan High School.

She wandered through the crowd and got a feel for things as she listened in on conversations. The customers were happy with their food, and a good mood seemed to be going. She went ahead and signaled Ukyo, the conditions were as good as could be reasonably expected.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, could I have your attention please?" Ukyo asked loudly enough for her voice to carry through the crowd. "I'd like to announce that Ran and I will be opening a restaurant today called the Lovely Angels." There were a few chuckles. Nabiki was glad that Ukyo wasn't being a sore loser about her successfully outmaneuvering her. "The Tendos and our friend Shampoo have both graciously offered to help tonight."

"We'd really appreciate it if you'd come to our grand opening." Ran finished, doing her best to look cute. She had made sure to emphasize they should add that touch. Ukyo was the proprietor, but Ran was the one who'd grabbed people's attention and together they were the Pair.

[-]

Nabiki swung by the Tendo compound with Ranma, Ukyo, and Shampoo. They collected Kasumi and Akane bringing their group up to six. Ranma's Mom wouldn't help until the weekend, and frankly Nabiki considered her unnecessary until that full scale run. As things stood they were going to probably get limited traffic. Today was the trial run. In a way this was the make or break point. Weaknesses in the execution of their plan would begin revealing themselves now.

They had six cute girls, with three high quality fighters and her youngest sister. Her eldest sister could do a lot to help smooth things over if there were any problems with customers. Perhaps most importantly they had a highly qualified martial artist chef that knew her stuff. If things worked out right it was a good team. By all rights they should be able to handle anything.

[-]

"Why hello brother dear, what can I do for you?" Kodachi asked, picking up the phone from Sasuke's hand.

"Kodachi, my dear twisted sister." Her brother started with false cheerfulness. She immediately recognized that he wanted something. Ever since she had laced his ice cream with Ex-lax to see what it'd do, he had openly hated her. That fateful day when she had been five, and she had found her way into the medicine cabinet. How was she supposed to see what it actually did without a human test subject? "I wanted to let you know that a new restaurant had opened up in the area that you might enjoy."

She quickly determined that he was trying to manipulate her into going there. That much it was hard to argue he was even trying to keep hidden. The real question was why. Was it some kind of restaurant that wasn't really up to code that her older brother was hoping would give her the runs, in revenge for all the times that she had ended up doing the same to him? "Oh, and what do they serve?"

"Okonomiyaki." Her brother responded simply.

It was a... pedestrian dish. Still, she had never actually had the chance to try it. She could slum it up enough to try such a thing. The lower classes were not incapable of making a tasty dish. "And what's the real reason you called, brother dear?" She asked bluntly, tiring of her brothers evasive and minimalistic answers.

There was a brief pause, during which she imagined her brother was trying to pull together his... persuasive argument. "The proprietor is a foul sorceress seeking to corrupt to girls of Furinkan." Not this again. Her brother and his fantastical notions. If he wasn't watching those Samurai dramas he was buried in some myth or fantasy novel. Why couldn't he appreciate the wonders of SCIENCE? There was no such thing as magic, just poorly understood phenomena that people tried to explain with magic before they understood the actual mechanics behind those phenomena. It would be worth seeing whatever had unsettled her brother enough to ask for her help, if only for her own amusement.

"I'll take care of it, brother dear." She declared before pulling the phone back on the proffered cradle, after her brother had given her the directions.

"Come Sasuke, we're going to check out a new restaurant."

"Like this?" Sasuke asked. Kodachi looked him up and down. She had him dress up in a suit to look more like a butler. He had a point, however: the clothes were far too nice for them to be sullied at an Okonomiyaki place. Besides people might get the wrong idea if she went to such a place with a boy three years her junior. That gave her an idea.

[-]

Sasuke stared at the mirror making sure to keep his expression neutral. The mistress had dressed him up in a frilly black dress, while admonishing him that he would be punished if it was stained. Mistress Kodachi finished putting the final touches of make up on.

"There you go Sasuke. Aren't you happy? Your mistress has spent her valuable time making you up so we can go to a restaurant." Mistress Kodachi asked.

He knew full well there'd be consequences if he expressed dissatisfaction with this. And even with his training, he couldn't find any enthusiasm in wearing a dress. "Hn."

The Mistress smiled. "That's my Sasuke. Now, come then Sasuke. We have a restaurant to check out."

[-]

Author's Notes:

As I'm sure someone will point out there could be legal intellectual property related issues if they named the restaurant "Lovely Angels." Given Ukyo and crew aren't decorating their restaurant with Dirty Pair stuff, I'm treating this as a non-issue due to it just being used as trademark. They're not really exploiting the Dirty Pair IP for financial gain. Also, no one is going to mistake a restaurant called the Lovely Angels for a pair of characters called the Lovely Angels.

I'm aware the real world doesn't work like this, but there's a point where I say this is a story and I think X is a fun idea so we're just going to do it anyway.


End file.
